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l4 


^^1 


HS 



W'-. 






'LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ 



f UNITED STATE8 OF AMERICA. ! 



EXTRACTS 



FROM A 



fOURNAL OF TRAVELS 

IN 

NORTH AMERICA, 

eONSISTING OF AN ACCOUNT OF 

BOSTON AND ITS VICINITY. 

By ALI bey, kc. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT. 



tainft 
that 

ti»n of good and bad was known. 



day 



_ .._tinc- 

EL KOUR-AN. 



BOSTON : 

PRINTED BY THOMAS BADGER, JUN 




1818. 



r~r' 



:\^I. 



District of Massachusetts^ to wit : 

District Clerk's Office. 



B 



E IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-seventh day of February, 
A. D. 1818, in the forty-second year of the Independence of the United 
States of America. Thomas Badger, jiin, of the said District, has deposited 
in this Office the Title of a Book, the Right whereof lie claims as Proprietor, 
in the words following, to wit :— " Extracts from a Journal of Travels in 
North America, consistingf of an Account of Boston and its Vicinity. By 
AH Bey, &c. Translated from the Original Manuscript." 

The fifth part of the spoil that you shall gain from yottr enemies, apper- 
taineth to God. the Prophet, his parents, orphans, the poor, and to pilgrims 
that are in want ;— observe what is above ordained if ye believe in God, in 
what we have inspired into our servant^ and in the day wherein the distinc- 
tion of good and bad was known, EL KOUR-AN. 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, 
"An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of 
Maps. Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, 
during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an Act entitled, '-An Act 
supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for theEncourayement of Learning, 
by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Pro« 
prietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned : and extending 
the benefits thereof to the Arts vf Designing, Engraving and Etching His- 
tm-ieal and •ther Prints." 

JNO. W. DAVIS, 
Clerk, of the Dittritt of Massachusotts. 



AD VER TISEMEN'i \ 



THE Translator congratulates the public upou 
the arrival among us of the distinguished traveller 
whose Journal he here p-resents, done into English. 
The portrait of our country has never yet been 
correctly taken by any of the crowd of foreigners that 
have attempted it. The contemptible caricatures 
^rawn by British tourists served the purpose for 
which th€y were designed — of deceiving the English 
people. They have served another purpose which 
was not intended. They have gone far toward des- 
troying the authority of British writers in generaJ, and 
of British travellers m particular. They have be- 
trayed a deep rooted national grudge, which although 
an indirect trihute to our country, has beeji met, it 
must be confessed, by somewhat Mercer feelings on 
this side txf the Atlamtic. 



French travellers have drawn more flattering, but 
scarcely better, likenesses. In short a faithful view 
of our country and ourselves by an impartial hand has 
long been a desideratum. Such an one we have 
reason to expect from the author before us — coming 
from a country not politically connected with ours — 
having no rival interests to serve — no national antipathy 
to gratify — we might (one would suppose) receive his 
representations with considerable confidence. A work 
of this description must be an invaluable bequest to a 
nation, incapable as it always is of seeing itself except 
by reflected light. 

National vanity is more respected than that of indi- 
viduals because of its aflinity to sentiments of patriot- 
ism. It is also of more universal growth. The Dej 
of Algiers excites his soldiers to battle by the recol- 
lections of their ancestors and the glory of their nation 
and name. And the Spaniard finds in the character of 
his country topics of proud complacency. But if this 
vanity is the parent of great exploits, it is also the 
source of national peculiarities. To present these 
peculiarities in true colours, in the perspective of the 
manners and character of a people — with a view t* 
qualify rather than extinguish that national feeling — i? 
the office of the traveller. 

In making the following extractSj the Translator hat 
been, guided as much by the practical nature of the 
information they contain as by their comparative value. 
He deems it proper to observe that he has nothing to 
do with the statements or speculations of the author, 
illhough he places the mirror before the town, he 



does not hold himself responsible for the correctness 
of its reflection. 

It remains to say a word as to the authenticity of this 
work. Upon this point the Translator will barely state, 
that the manner in which the manuscript came to his 
hands leaves no doubt on his mind respecting its au- 
thenticity. 

But after he was convinced that the Journal was 
authentic, he was not without scruples touching the 
propriety of making it public. He considered it unfair 
to snatch from a man the fruit of much labor, time and 
hazard. Besides the work appeared, from internal 
marks, not to have been intended for a Christian public. 
These scruples were only overcome by the considera- 
tion of the manner — not very creditable — in which our 
traveller came to this country, and his covert project 
thus happily detected. 

Still, however, the Translator disclaims all pecu- 
niary motive: — and he hereby advertizes Signior Ali. 
Bey or Mons. Desaleurs, or by whatever other name 
he may now be pleased to be known, that all the 
profits of this publication, after the necessary charger - 
are defrayed, shall be duly paid over to his order. 

January^ 1818. 



JOURNAL 



OF 



ALI BEY, ^c. 



CHAP. I. 

The Authors Introduction — His arrival — The Exchange 
Coffee-House — Boston. 

8 March, I8I7. Praise be to God most 
great, the Lord of the worlds, the most mer- 
ciful, the most gracious, King of the day of 
judgment! Welfare and peace be to thee, 
O Mouhhammed, Prophet of God ! — here 
am I, Ali Bey ibn Othman Bey el Abassi, 
on the shores of this occidental hemisphere. 
Having visited the principal cities of Africa^ 
Asia and Europe, having performed my pil- 
grimage to the holy city, I resolved, in pur» 
Buit of the great project of my heart, to ex- 
plore this New World* 



8 

I arrived here yesterday morning, after a 
short but boisterous passage. We got into 
the outer harbor the evening before, but our 
eaptain thought it prudent not to come up 
to the town till the next day. Yesterday 
morning the sun rising clear presented the 
city in full view before us, with its glittering 
domes and spires and vanes and windows. 
We got early under weigh, and the wind 
being fair we foqi^d oui^^elves at once along- 
side of the wharf; passing in our way a 
multitude of little islands on some of which 
are forts and military works, and a pharos, 
of which I shall give a more minute account 
hereafter. 

This continent presents nothing remark- 
able to the view of the approaching navi- 
gator. The country as we drew near ap- 
peared barren and inhospitable, on account, 
probably, of the season ; for the reign of 
winter on these cold shores is not yet miti- 
gated. I noticed with my gliss, patches of 
buildings skirting the coast on either side 
of the city. 

By the advice of a fellow passenger, 
native of this city, I have taken lodgings in 
tlie Exchange Coifee-Hquse, apparently the 
principal hotel of the city — as far at least 



9 

as relates to bulk. It is a huge ill oou- 
structed edifice six stories in height aud a 
basement. Its numerous apartments with 
their various business, give it the appearance 
of a small city. In the centre of this build- 
ing is an octagonal area, over which is 
thrown a dome, whose glass pannels serve 
as a sky-light. Around this area, are cor- 
ridors at each story supported by twenty 
pillars. The eastern front is adorned with 
six Ionic pilasters of marble. This build- 
ing was evidently designed as a public 
ornament ; and yet it is placed at a distance 
from any principal street and embosomed 
in other buildings. Its ill planned, dark, 
and inconvenient rooms make one regret 
that so great expense and labor had not been 
better directed. 

Having devoted the early part of to-day to 
domestic arrangements, I sallied out about 
noon to take a view of the town. As it is 
my maxim to assimilate myself as much as 
possible to the people among whom I travel, 
to escape notice, I had assumed the Euro- 
pean costume before sailing from Cadiz ; 
And intending to pass as a native of France 
on this side of the Atlantic, I bespoke pas- 
sage for Mons. Desaleurs, by which nam* 



10 

my sfrvaiits are directed to address mn. 
Notwithstanding these precautions, I ob- 
served that I attracted notice as I passed 
Up the street, and the hurried paced citizens 
turned about upon me, as they brushed 
along, to take a second view. It is imp^s- 
«ible I believe for strangers in any city to 
conceal their character from the practised 
glance of the cit, let him assume never so 
much nonchalance or pass never so rapidly. 

This city is irregularly built. The build- 
ings are mostly of brick, and three or four 
stories high. The streets are generally ir- 
regular, and many of them narrow and dirty. 
I observed some however sufficiently wide 
and cleanly, and lined with spacious walks 
for foot people. This city seems to consist 
of nothing but shops, at whose windows 
innumerable sorts of wares are exhibited 
with a good deal of effect. On the west side 
of the town is an extensive opening or 
«quare, enclosed on three sides by buildings 
and on the fourth by water. This must be 
very beautiful when the season is mild and 
the trees and ground covered with verdure. 
I shall take occasion to mention this again. 

Boston is built on a tongue of laud almost 
surrounded by waiier. It is *stimated to 



ii 

contain about 40,000 inhabitants. Its streets 
of course do not show that bustle and stir 
which is to be seen in European cities of 
the first or second magnitude. It appears 
to be in a very flourishing condition — at 
least so I infer from the extensive improve- 
ments now in progress or recently finished. 
This however may be a fallacious appear- 
ance. Commerce is the life of this place 5 
but commerce here as elsewhere is still lin- 
gering with the wounds received in the latt 
wars. 



it 



CHAP. II. 

Exchange Coffee House Reading Room — Ali Bey makes 
«n acquaintance — his account of the religious disputes 
in this country. 

One of the rooms in my hotel is devoted 
entirely to^news/ and is called by a slight 
metaphor, ^the reading room,^ This room 
is filled with high tables and desks on whicW 
are laid the newspapers and public journal* 
of this country and Europe as they are pub- 
lished and received. 

It was in this room that T first met a gen- 
tleman whose humanity and intelligence I 
shaU often have occasion to mention and 
will never be forgotten by me. As I was 
reading a Paris paper n' ar the file on which 
he was looking, he addressed me in French 
with some every day observation. I replied 
in the same language. E ch being com- 
municative we gr durJly brought on a con- 
versation of considerable len2;th. I invited 
him to my rooms and to dine with me. 

How delightful a thing it is to a stranger 
to find a person thus accessible and habitu- 



IS 

dly exercising the offices of humanity to- 
ward all of his species, without waiting for 
the cold formality of an introduction. He 
that never sojourned in a strange place 
cannot know this pleasure. This gentle- 
man took lodgings, I found, in this hotel, 
and though not a native of this city is per- 
fectly acquainted with its inhabitants, their 
manners and customs. He has been a tra- 
veller too as w ell as myself, having visited 
the principal nations of Europe. His polite- 
ness has in a measure supplied the want of 
letters of introduction, a vehicle of acquaint- 
ance adopted here in imitation of Europe. 
Of this I was deprived by my faith ; for 
what communion has Islamism with Chris, 
tianity ? Letters here are almost indispen- 
sable. I could not in this city as in Mo- 
rocco draw around me the pachas, fakirs 
and cadis by the splendor of my equipage 
or the length of my retinue ; nor is it con- 
formable to the customs of the place to send 
presents to the chief men as a prelude to 
acquaintance. My friend, (for such I have 
found him,) besides introducing me into the 
soi-disant fashionable circles of the town, 
has been of infinite service in unravelling 
the secret folds and reduplications of the 



14 

society and manners of the city— a speciesi. 
of knowledge which a stranger is late in 
acquiring. 

The suhject which is most directly con- 
nected with my great project,* and to which 
I shall therefore pay great attention, is the 
religious opinions and prejudices of this 
people. There appears to he a great divi- 
sion among the followers of the cross. 
Another prophet has arisen, who divides 
the suffrages of Christendom with Jesus 
Christ. At least so I conjecture from a 
pamphlet a bookseller put into my hands 
the other day, with this superscription, 
^' Are you a Calvinist or are you a Chris- 
tian ?'' that is, are you a disciple of Calvin 
(the new Prophet,) or of Jesus Christ? 

I took an early opportunity to converse 
with my new acquaintance upon this sub- 
ject. He informs me that the Calvinists 
are not, as I imagined, a sect in opposi- 
tion to Jesus Christ ; but that they are 
called by that name in contradistinction from 
another class of Christians called liberals, 

* Our author frequently alludes to ' his great pro- 
ject' both in this anJ his other travels. What can this 
project be? — the conversion (as conjectured by some) 
•f Christendom to the Mouhhammedan faith? 

[Note hy Tr.] 



15 

^liberales.'] The main point in dispute 
between them, if I understood him correcily. 
is whel:ker according to their book there 
are three Gods or one God, or what amounts 
to the same thing, whether Grod is three 
persons or one. The Calvinists maintain 
the former, the Liberals the latter opinion.. 
These parties are also called in allusion 
to their creed, Trinitarians and Unitari- 
a7is. They each bring arguments which 
convince themselves, from the same book 
and almost the same words. 

But said I does not this question belong 
to metaphysicks rather than religion? 

Yes, certainly, answered my friend. Be- 
sides it is so remote from any practical result, 
that the more rational look upon the deci- 
sion of it as unimportant, and can hardly 
conceive that men should dispute about it 
in earnest. The Unitarians compare the 
doctrine of the triyiity to that of transub- 
stantiation and other absurdities of the 
schools, and they confidently anticipate the 
time when this surviving relick of the dark 
ages shall share the fate of its fellows, 
and be consigned to the tomb of oblivion. 

The Trinitarians, on the other ban d, re- 
gard it as the pivot of their religion, upon 



16 

which tlie doctrine of atonement, satisfac- 
tion, and divers other dogmas equally im- 
portant depend. 

But these sects, he continued, have various 
other points of divergence. The creed of 
the one is generally esteemed either absurd, 
puerile or pernicious by the other. What, 
say the liberal party, can be more unnatu- 
ral, more abhorrent to our feelings thau 
the belief that mankind are created viciout 
and depraved, and that infants consequently 
are morally guilty ? What can be a greatey 
imputation upon God ! And what can be 
more pernicious in practice than the belief 
in miraculous regeneration, election, perse- 
verance, &c. as technically explained by 
the followers of Calvin ? 

The Calvinists in their turn charge their 
opponents with want of zeal in the cause 
of religion, with looseness and skepticism, 
and of what they term latitudinarianism. 

Between these parties, as between most 
contending parties, the truth is probably 
divided. They take different views of the 
subject they paint, and the picture of each 
is partially incorrect. 

TheCalvinists are led by their peculiar tem- 
perament to draw mankind in dark colours. 



17 

They would make ns believe that we are t 
very wicked and worthless race of beings, 
deserving of all manner of punishment-which 
it should seem we are now undergoing ; for 
they insist upon it that there is nothing in 
this world but sorrow, misery and sin. 

The bther party are less saturnine — they 
look upon man to be a pretty clever sort of 
a being naturally, with many good and some 
bad principles in his nature, either of which 
he is at liberty to cultivate, and which 
he does cultivate according to the force of 
temptations and the predominance of a good 
or a bad education. As to the world, aL 
though disfigured with much misery and 
vice, they still think that the balance is in 
favor of happiness and virtue. And they 
do not see the advantage or propriety in 
painting the world or its inhabitants in 
darker colours than truth requires. Much 
less allowable do they deem it to draw the 
character of the Almighty according to the 
gloomy imaginations of men, without regard 
to revelation. 

Although I am a mere spectator of this 
pious warfare, not being arrayed with either 
belligerent, yet it may be proper to cautioiii 
you against relying on my judgment without 



£8 

making allowance for the lee- way of preju-^ 
dice. 

The most weighty objection to the Cal- 
vinistic system is, as I have ever conceived, 
the abridgement of free inquiry which it 
brings with it. If it is competent to one 
man, or any number of men, to decide upon 
doubtfiil points, not only for themselves but 
for others, and to require a belief in their 
decision, — where is freedom of inquiry ? If 
they have a right to construe one book for 
us, they may extend that right to all books ; 
and if they are infallible in religion, they 
may ere long claim universal infallibility. 
Besides, by tlie adoption of this system 
religious knowledge would become station- 
ary, and we in the nineteenth century, in- 
stead of following the liglitis struck out by 
classical research and biblical criticism, 
R)?ust bend our necks implicitly to the yok« 
of Calvin and Athanasius, 

The system of education adopted by this 
sect is in my opinion radically wrong — to 
train up youth to a particular theory, to in- 
culcate certain dogmas, and to put no books 
into their hands but such as support those 
dogmas ; what is this but io turn the key of 
knowledge on inquirers for truth ? Thi*^ 



1« 

method may make zealous partizans and 
bigoted polemicks, but it is little calculated 
to make enlightened and pious Christians. 

But these are not the only objections to 
Calvinism. Its teachers instead of taking the 
lead of the age, actually fall in the rear ;— 
in all that relates to taste, manners, feelings 
and information, they r.re at least a century 
behind the rest of the world. They come 
to us in the temper of another age, when 
metaphysicks were in vogue. And their 
theology has never yet been cured of that 
epidemick. They still ring the changes on 
those obsolete and abstruse subjects to au- 
diences little able to comprehend them, — 
while the rest of the world lias grown prac- 
ticalj and is returning to common sense^ 
both in religion and philosophy. 

This error of the Calvinists is not how- 
ever peculiar to them. Ali Bey, the cele- 
brated traveller, mentions a similar propen- 
sity in Mussulmen to intermingle metaphy- 
sical subtilty with theology, and to substi- 
tute refinements and jargon for the weightier 
matters of practical religion and morality. 

Have you read the travels of Ali Bey, 
sir? I of course answered in the affirmative 
a little disconcerted;, which however I be- 



so 

lieve he did not notice. He then went on 
to pass a high encomium on my former jour- 
nal, expressing astonishment at the variety 
of learning which he was pleased to say I 
displayed, not however without some affec- 
tation of knowledge, &c. &c. This charge 
was new to me 5 but I was obliged to assent 
to all. He even discussed the reality of 
the character in which I travelled ! I soon 
took an opportunity to divert him from a 
subject so unpleasant, and to recal him to 
our former topic. 

But have the liberals avoided the shoals 
on which their adversaries run aground ? 

Yes, sir, they have escaped those shoals. 
But alas ! common sense has much to wres- 
tle with before it can settle the vibrating 
scales of truth and error ! The liberal party 
give the utmost liberty to private judgment 
and free inquiry. They inculcate Chris- 
tianity as a practical religion — a system of 
morality and piety. Their teachers en- 
deavor to keep pace with the rest of the 
world, to adapt their instruction to the 
present state of society, and the taste and 
feelings of their audience — avoiding meta- 
physical jargon on the one hand and melan- 
cholic bigotry on the other. They think, 



31 

since Christianity lias become respectabl* 
and the condition of its professors comfort- 
able, that they are warranted in assuming 
a corresponding cheerful countenance and 
voice ; and in laying aside the quaint lan- 
guage of puritanism^ and the lugubrious 
tone of primitive Christians. 

All this is very well. — But every revolu- 
tion tends to extremes. And the sun of 
truth has always had and always will have 
to struggle with the fog of human passions. 
You will not be surprised then when I tell 
you that the liberal party have not steered 
entirely clear of the quicksands. They, 
have not used their liberty as not abusing 
it, with care not to make it a stumbling 
block for their brethren. Nor can it be 
concealed that they have given some colour 
to the charge of levity and skepticism in 
holy things. ' Vanity of vanities all is van- 
ity;' — " this is not true !'" saith ow?' preach- 
er, not judging from consciousness probably. 
So the sentiment is correct no doubt ^ that 
there is nothing true but Heaven ;' but 
could it not be inculcated in a better way than 
by reciting a popular song from the desk ? 
And it may be very entertaining and even 
instructive to hear a judicious critique upon 



the writings of an eminent author ; but could 
not a teacher of religion take a more suit- 
able time than the Sabbath for such a com- 
munication? If this is not the conduct of 
a sincere and conscientious Christian who 
has a tender regard for the feelings of his 
fellow men, neither is it the part of a pru- 
dent man or substantial partizan. The 
folly of shocking unnecessarily any general 
prejudice, much more of loosening the rev- 
erence for holy things, is so obvious ont 
"Would suppose as not to escape the con- 
sideration of the most infatuated. 

But fortunately no religion is answerable 
for the passions and follies of its adherents. 
Vanity and ambition are not peculiar to 
any sect, and furnish evidence against the 
persons in whom they appear, not against 
their opinions. There will always be in 
every party bold and aspiring geniuses, who 
to be conspicuous will step forward of their 
contemporaries, without regiirding personal 
obloquy or the interest of their sect. 

Upon the whole, it is impossible to view 
either of these contending parties with entire 
satisfaction. If the austerity of one offend« 
us, we cannot shut our eyes to the want of 
solemnity in the other. In avoiding the 



quaint and fanatical language imputed to tbe^ 
teachers of that sect, those of the other com- 
mit as great a fault when they couch their 
prayers and discourses in a novel and un- 
natural phraseology, and reject the simple 
and expressive language of scripture. Take 
the following extract as an example, from 
the works of one whose memory they justly 
delight to honor. 

"It [charity] is that love which, as the 
apostle says, is kind and forbearing, which 
envieth not, which is not vain or proud, 
which doth not behave itself unseemly or 
with indecorum, but consults the feelings of 
others, which seeketh not its own advan- 
tage/' &c. 

Now this may be an ' improved version,^ 
but it is certainly far inferior in pathos and 
expression to the old text which long ac- 
quaintance has endeared to us and rendered 
venerable. 

It w ill require, I think, about one age 
more to bring these parties together ; — for 
one to arrive at, and the other to return to, 
the goal of truth. By that time the tempo- 
rary evils will have passed away that at- 
tended the first couching of the mental eye. 
^ What is inow called innovation will then 



S4^ 

be establishment. The reverence for the 
scriptures and the authority of religion will 
then be re-established — if indeed they were 
ever detached or shaken. And then shall 
the world see clearly to collect what results 
to truth from the mighty decomposition of 
ancient and modern prejudice and error I 

While my friend was giving this interest- 
ing account, I could not but reflect how soon 
mankind get bewildei^d when they leave the 
plain paths of the true faith for the defiles of 
infidelity ! But I recollected the Wehabites 
and humbled myself in the dust. Alas, that 
the followers of the Prophet will be so 
much like Christians ! 



CHAP. III. 

Jili Bey attends a rout — His viezas of the ladies — Their 
manners — Dress-— Beauty — Education — The conduct 
of the gentlemen^ 4'C. 

April 1817. A few evenings ago, I at- 
tended what is here called a fashionable 
rout. Several hundred cards or tickets of 
invitation were said to have been issued, 
and more than a hundred I should think, 
obeyed the summons. When I arrived, 
most of the company was already collected. 
I was met in the passage by the master of 
ceremonies who led me into the drawing 
room, which was lined with ladies, and con- 
ducting me up its whole extent, introduced 
me in due form to Madame, the lady of the 
house. He then discharged me, to attend 
to others. 

After coffee and cake had been duly pass- 
ed around, all hands began to prepare for 
the solemnities of the evening. The rooms 
were cleared for dancing or spread with ta- 
bles for such as chose cards. I declined at 
first taking part in either, because I wanted 



S(5 

an opportunity to reconnoitre. I according- 
ly took a view of the several apartments : — 
in one was music and dancing, in others 
were gentlemen and ladies at whist, back- 
gammon, &c. ; here a group of men talking 
upon political subjects ; there an unbroken 
file of ladies who did not find partners ; in 
one corner two or three gentlemen talking 
apparently in private ; in another quarter is 
stationed a corps of observation, taking a 
survey of the dance, and criticising the looks, 
dress, dancing, &c. of the rest of the com- 
pany. When I heard some of this body 
admiring or condemning the dress of one 
lady, the face or foot of another, the figure 
or dancing of a third, I noticed the objects 
of their remarks to ascertain how far my 
ideas corresponded with theirs. For my 
own part I saw enough to admire in tlie 
features and complexion of the ladies, but 
very little in their dancing. They are cer- 
tainly handsome; — their well turned oval 
features, their ruddy complexion, mellow 
eye and sprightly air would enrapture the 
most phlegmatic, if they were not, as in 
this (:<mntry, the objects of daily observation. 
1 vc'ily believe tliat neither Cyprus nor the 
Haram ran produce their parallel! Their 






dress is not calculated to give effect to their 
beauty. It is in general too gaudy and too 
constrained. Their plumes, and spangles, 
and bracelets^ and rings, and beads, and 
watches, may dazzle like a jewellers shop. 
But simplicity is the garb for ])eauty. 

Their dress is faulty in another respect^ 
that was to me exceedingly painful. In 
conformity to a pernicious fashion, every 
lady imprisons her person in a machine call- 
ed corslet, which, to conceal a bad shape 
or display a good one, is laced so tight ag 
to produce visible constraint and pain in its 
victims. To this violent compression of the 
chest and stomach, and the consequent inter- 
rupted action of the corporeal organs I at- 
tribute the ruddy complexion of the ladies 
— a sort of hectic flush for which they are 
remarkable. To this cause also may be at- 
tributed their small breasts — ' those formg 
of beauty's mould,' which, if emaciated by a 
deranged system, art can neither counterfeit 
nor supply. In vain do medical men inveigh 
against this fiital fashion. A female here 
does not hesitate when health is pitched 
against fashion. 

Their dancing was perfectly decorouS;, 
but neither light nor graceful. The Spanish 



S8 

bolero or German waltz would not he coun- 
tenanced here. They learn to dance of the 
French, but both gentlemen and ladies make 
but sorry pupils, if this is a fair specimen. 

From what I observed this evening I did 
not form a very favourable opinion of the 
good feelings and politeness of the gentle- 
men. It appeared to me that they gave 
themselves very little concern about the en- 
joyment of others when it crossed their own 
inclinations. This was very noticeable in 
their attentions to the ladies. Two or three 
who were styled, par excellence, the belles of 
the evenings monopolized the civilities of the 
gentlemen, and liad a continual crowd re- 
volving around them, flattering their vanity 
and anticipating their engagements, — while 
a large and respectable corps remained un- 
approached, without dancing or having an 
invitation to dance during the whole evening. 
I mentioned this neglect to one of the gen- 
tlemen, and proposed inviting some of a 
group hard by to take a part in the next 
dance. ^ Ah ! Monsieur, said lie, they are 
on the old list,^ I then shewed him another 
squadron that had l)een equally unfortunate. 
* Those are on the ngly list J he replied. All 
these lists the gentlemen regard as exempts : 



29 

or rather fliey regard age or complexion as 
an excuse for their own selfishness and ill 
manners. 

I had a curiosity to satisfy myself of the 
correctness of these gentlemen's preference- 
With that view 1 invited one of these 'exempts' 
to dance, and it was the only time she danced 
that night. I found her a very attentive and 
good partner, and what is more, an intelli- 
gent and well informed young lady. After- 
wards 1 opened a passage through the crowd 
to one of the belles and engaged her for a 
dance. The contrast was great — she was 
more fair than the other but not so good a 
partner, and appeared to be a giddy, trillings 
forward girl, as incapable of uttering two in- 
telligible sentences in connexion, as her own 
parrot. 

I related the incidents of the evening to 
my friend who was accidentally prevented 
from being of the party. He said that the 
ill manners that I noticed in the gentlemen 
would cease to surprise me before 1 liad 
been to many parties — for, said he, it is the 
standing order of the day in tliis place. 

The company, he continued, which you 
met last night is a pretty favourable sam- 
ple of what is called the beau monde in 



30 

this town. But, as you doubtless noticed, 
they have a good deal to learn before they 
arrive at the acme of refinement. The gen- 
tlemen especially are wanting in those fine 
feelings which are the evidence and result of 
a good heart and refined society. Of this what 
you witnessed last night may convince you ; 
and I could adduce other corroborative ex- 
amples. The fact is, a Bostonian is not 
over delicate in his ideas or sentiments. 
Those nice attentions to the feelings of others 
to avoid giving pain constitute no part of his 
character or study. He wastes no time in 
circumlocution to qualify his language or 
temper it to the sensibility of those he ad- 
dresses. In this respect he is considerably 
behind those that you will meet as you pro- 
('ced farther south in the southern and mid- 
dle states. 

In pecuniary matters their ideas are pe- 
culiarly obtuse. Having generally acquired 
their property by their own exertions they 
know its value too well to make delicacy of 
fcelinsrs an item in their account. A debt of 
lionour they would not comprehend. If they 
make a present it is with the worst possible 
grace and conceal so that every one knows 
it. If you are compelled by accident or ill 



31 

luck to ask a loan of a frieiidj he takes good 
care that you shall not forget it ; and the 
more publicly he reminds you of it the more 
speedily he expects to obtain payment. 
When you rise from whist after a course of 
bad luck, expect to hear your Bostonian an- 
tagonist vociferate, ' Pay your points 1' 
These coarse and sordid eharacteristicks 
present him in a very repulsive aspect to 
strangers. 

It was certainly to have been expected 
that tliis mercenary spirit would wear off by 
degrees, or at least w^ould have died along 
with him who contracted it as he acquired 
his property. The reverse however is the 
case. And descendants inherifc the feelings 
as well as the property of their ancestors. 
How could it be otherwise, when the impor- 
tance of money and the love of it are incul- 
cated with their creed and ' grow w ith tlieir 
growth and strengthen with their strength?' 

As to the ladies, he continued, their de- 
portment is usually unexceptionable. They 
use but little rouge, and seldom swear mucli, 
especially in presence of gentlemen. Such 
' sarsnet stuff for surety' tx^ faith, vow ^ Lord, 
mercy, &c. makes about the extent of their 
asseverations. 



32 

But the point in which they are most con- 
spicuously deficient is information. It is 
melancholy to retlect to what an extent of 
evil a perverted education has given and is 
giving birth. Females in this business- doing 
country have incomparably more leisure for 
literary pursuits than any class of men — I 
mean of course those females who are ex- 
empted by their situation from procuring 
their ow n livelihood. And yet with all this 
leisure what have they compassed in litera- 
ture ? Nothing ! literally nothing ! Nine 
tenths of the ladies of this town (with sor- 
row I say it^) are at this moment ignorant of 
the history and geography of their own 
country : as for European history ancient 
or modern — as for belles lettres, metaphysi- 
cal or physical philosophy, — it is all terra 
incognita to them. Nay, even the current 
literature of the day is too much for them — 
excepting always j^oetry and novels. These, 
especially tlie most popular, w ith plays, song 
books and music books, constitute the sum 
total of the library of a young lady at the 
present day. If you think, sir, there is any 
exaggeration in this, go with me to the cir- 
culating li1)raries, and see what books are 
most called for, and by whom — go with me 



33 

to private libraries, to the shelves of secre- 
taries and pianos — and lastly, for ' damning 
proof enter into conversation Avith the fair 
subjects of my animadversion upon some 
topic that will test their historical or belles 
lettres information. But if you value your 
popularity as a beau, dont you make the 
most distant allusion to these subjects in 
their presence, or to any other subject con- 
nected with reading — excepting, as observed 
before, some very popular novel or poem, or 
a play lately got up. If you disregard these 
precautions expect to hear such complimen- 
tary ejaculations as " Oh my ! he is so pe- 
dantic, or tedious, or so imj)ertinent that I 
cant bear him !" 

I do not give you this account to preju- 
dice you against the ladies of this town: 
Avhether it is true or not judge for yourself 
when you become better acquainted. Nor 
do I intend to say that the ladies of this 
town are more deficient than those of most 
other places of equal population. But I do 
think it the duly of all men every where to 
protest against a misjudged and defective 
system of education of so important a part 
of the human species^ 



84 

But, said I, is it not tlie duty of gentle- 
men to look to themselves > Their opinions and 
examples must always have a prevailing in- 
fluence with their fair counterparts in a society 
constituted as this is. Do they alw ays give 
that preference to intelligent and well informed 
females which they deserve ? without regard 
to personal attractions or superficial accom- 
plishments. If the conduct of your gentle- 
men last night is a fair specimen, I should 
infer that the ladies are not altogether with- 
out excuse. 

You are right, sir — and this in mitigation 
I very readily allow, as far as it will go. 
And I am willing to pity rather than con- 
demn that penchant of our fair co-ordinates, 
that gives to fops and coxcomhs their unde- 
served influence. But my animadversions 
do not contemplate the young ladies them- 
selves so much as their parents and gov- 
ernantes. But for parents and boarding 
school mistresses to trick off their daughter* 
and pupils with such a heartless, unsubstan- 
tial education as — ^learning to draw a little^ 
to embroider, to dance and play upon a 
piano — with the balaiice in novel reading, 
and in that chrysalis state to palm them upon 
men of isense as their meet companions — wliy 



it is afi^aud on individuals and an imposition 
on the public. Tbis conduct is criminal in 
all, but in those parents who have had the 
benefit of a good education themselves and 
of course know its value, it is doubly wicked 
and cruel. 

But it may be said that music and 
drawing and such ^ fashionable accom- 
plishments' have a social tendency, and 
fit young women for society. To this the 
common answer is conclusive — nothing is so 
gocial as a cultivated mind. Who has not 
felt the glow kindled by the coming together 
of informed and reflecting minds ? Who ever 
knew such a meeting unsocial ? On the con- 
trary w ho has not been so unfortunate as to 
come in contact with persons whose crude 
and unformed ideas rendered tlieir presence 
a desert, and their intercourse scarcely better 
than that of quadrupeds. Indeed those, who 
make this plea for the fine arts, as consti- 
tuting a young lady's education, might ai 
well contend that the society of fiddlers and 
dancing masters is preferable to that of edu- 
cated gentlemen. Certainly this sort of edu- 
cation does not fit a person for conversation ; 
which is the highest prerogative of society — 
this your own experience has just proved. And 



it may be fairly said that as much as is add- 
ed to the toes and fingers of ladies versed in 
the art and mystery of thrumming on pianos, 
and taking rigadoons is so much taken from 
the tongue and the brain. Do not suppose, 
however, that 1 would have them neglect 
these lighter accomplishments entirely ; nor 
need they, and still have ample leisure for 
solid acquiremeius. But 1 would have them 
early and practically impressed with the 
importance of information and a taste for 
solid reading. Instead of their present frothy 
education that begins and ends with Miss 
Malapert's, whose mother 

" tutored her young one 

To turn out her toes like the ladies in London." 

I would have mothers and governantes fit 
the objects of their care for the practical du- 
ties of life, by regulating their mhids to sober 
application, by pointing out to them the ob- 
jects most worthy of their attention, and in- 
culcating a taste for the retired pleasures of 
mental employment. Novels and works of 
imagination they might regard as dessert 
to their more substantial repast. If they 
were tau2;ht music, it should be select and 
chaste ; but should not be permitted (as they 



87 

Jiow are) to follow the insidious track of a 
Moore to tiie contiiies of delicacy. Such an 
education would iit young women for wives 
and mothers — as nature designed them. We 
should then have a wife a mental companion^ 
who would ^joy in our joys and sorrow in 
our sorrows ;' not a hypocliondriack^ w ay- 
ward, spoiled chikl to fill our house alter- 
nately with company and gloom, dissipation 
and melancholy. If such an education w ere 
common, marriage, instead o" deterring the 
prudent by the hazard of drawing something 
worse than a blank, would become safe, in- 
viting and satisfactory. But now the rash 
votary of matrimony may thank his stars if 
he is fortunate, and not his own discernment. 
He trusts indeed to the blindest chance. For 
in the present state of society, it is morally 
impossible that he should be much better 
acquainted v/ith the disposition or mental 
qualities and acquirements of the. fair objects 
of his choice, than if she were brought to him 
for the first time on the wedding day conceal- 
ed in a basket, like the brides of I'angier. 

But this system of mis-education is, I fear, 
too fashionable, and chimes too well with 
the frivolity of that sex, and the silly part 
of our own, ever to be eradicated. At least 



38 

1 have long since despaired of seeing in mj 
day female education conducted on sound 
and rational principles^ mucii less do I ex- 
pect to reap its genuine fruits. Those fe- 
males who happen to be better educated than 
the mass of their sex will for some time yet, 
I fear, countenance a vulgar objection by not 
avoiding the dangers of a little learning, 
pedantry and eccentricity. This however 
they would doubtless out- grow when infor- 
mation becomes as general and as much a 
matter of course with that sex as with ours. 

What opinion did you form of the manners 
«f our citizens from what you saw^ last even- 
ing? 

A pretty favourable one, sir — at least more 
so than I had expected. The ladies appear- 
ed best. 

Less polished, however, than those you 
meet in Europe ? 

Yes sir, but their modesty or diffidence, 
[mauvaise honte] rendered them interesting 
without being awkward or erabariassed. 
Some few, however, seemed aifected, others 
assured, [assures] and most wanted some 

of the ease and 2:raceful diirnitv of the ladv. 

fj Of «/ 

In the gentlemen there was less to ap- 
prove — for unless a chief-clerk-and-cockney 



^9 

sort of manners arc indicative of gentlemen v 
I should doubt the right of most of those I 
saw to that appellation. They did not ap- 
pear to know the ditTerence ])etween ease 
and impudence, and hit one in awkwardly 
aiming at the other. Their self-importance 
was so ill established in their own minds, 
that to put it beyond a doubt, they assumed 
a variety of unnatural and supercilious airs^ 
little in unison with the dignified, unassum- 
ing, but conscious address of a gentleman. 

This opinion, so unguardedly and can- 
didly expressed, excited a smile in my friend. 
He said, however, that it coincided with his 
own, drawn from a much more thorough ac= 
quaintance. 



40 



CHAP. IV. 

AH Bey attends a Caucus — His Account of our Political 
Disscntions— Our Lazvs— State of Soaeiy — The The- 
atrz. 

8 April. Last evening I attended what is 
here called a Caucus, that is, a public meet- 
ing of citizens to discuss political subjects 
and canvas the merits of their rulers. This 
meeting was held in a large hall which was 
very crowded and badly lighted. The dis- 
cussion was not very interesting to me, turn- 
ing mostly on local or personal topics. Thos« 
who took part hi the debates were generally 
young men — their seniors either did not at- 
tend the meeting, or did not take much in- 
terest in the business. Their speeches al- 
though nominally extemporaneous, were in 
fact very studied and formal — some however 
were considerably spirited and glowing. 
Some of the speakers displayed very credit- 
able pow ers of declamation, and they did 
not aspire to the higher regions of eloquence. 



41 

Their prevailing fault appeared to me to 
consist in not appearing io feel their subject, 
and in straining ever and anon to say some- 
thing smart, w^ith a view to applause — which 
in truth was dealt out to them very liberally, 
by clapping hands, stamping, huzzaing, &c. 

They did not appear to come to any prac- 
tical result after alL And I was surprised 
to find all the speakers coincide in their 
opinions ; till my friend informed me that 
this is merely an exparte meeting ; for there 
is another large party that hold a separate 
consiiUation, These parties disagree upon 
certain political questions, and have viewed 
each other in times past with a good deal of 
animosity. This division into parties is not 
confined to this city — it extends throughout 
the country, and has been the cause of much 
injustice and mischief It is indeed a serious 
off- set against the liberty which this people^ 
boasts. 

Among the many bad consequences sf 
these dissentions, their effect on the moral 
principle is the most melancholy and most 
disgracefaL 1'hey debase tlie feelings and 
pervert the judgment. You can scarcely 
conceive, says my friend, the hardihood ef 
depravity that men betray when acted upoE. 



4S} 

by these disseiitions and the passions they 
generate. It frequently liappens that men of 
talents and reputation appear utterly callous 
not only with regard to integrity and prin- 
ciple, but even to shame. Their opinions 
they regard as a commodity of traffic that 
may be bartered with as little detriment as 
other commodities ; and they do not balance 
long about putting them off when they stand 
in the way of their ambition or interest. 
This conduct and these feelings could only 
escape contempt and disgust when the public 
mind is in a state of excitement ; and their 
prevalence in any country is a blot on the 
national character. It is but justice however 
to state that, although instances of this want 
of principle are disgracefully numerous 
among us, there are many honourable in- 
stances of good feelings and integrity which 
neither the neglect of friends nor the allure- 
ments of enemies could overcome. 

[Our authors informant liere proceeds to illustrate 
his precefling observations by personal examples, giv- 
ing" a more minute account of our political squabbles 
and tergiversations — he then draws a short sketch of 
the character and comparative merits of the two great 
parties that have divided the country — all which for 



48 

obvioua reasons the translator has thought proper to 
omit.] 

These details were very interesting to me, 
although not so closely connected witii my 
great project as the account of their religious 
disputes. 

Notwithstanding the regrets of my friend, 
and the evils he had ponrtrayed, it is very 
evident that these hahitual disputes are on 
the whole beneficial, and perhaps indispen- 
sable to the preservation of liberty. They 
give health and vigour to the political body. 
A mere spectator would apprehend prior to 
experience that this self-governed people 
would look upon office as a burthen^ and as 
soon as the novelty was gone, would regard 
the government with too much indifference 
to preserve it from dilapidation. But the 
ambition kindled by these disputes infuses 
like hope, animation into every thing it 
touches. And the fact turns out to be — and 
it is a remarkable phenomenon — that the 
most obscure and laborious offices in the 
country are sought with avidity. Ambition 
resembles hope in another respect — it is 
commonly unfounded in reason or common 
sense. Else why should men crave offices 



4^ 

wliicli cost them a large part of their earn- 
ings, considerable time and trouble, and the 
sacrifice of much private enjoyment — and all 
this for what ? why, for a little village dis- 
tinction, or in the higher orders for fume, if 
you please! Is this an adequate object? 
The desire of fame has been very erroneous- 
ly termed ' the last infirmity of great minds.' 
A mind must have very equivocal claims to 
greatness that has not out-grown this infir- 
mity, ludeed its very existence is inconsist- 
ent with greatness of mind ; inasmuch as it 
implies a conscious dependance, a reaching 
after extraneous support. A really great 
mind will not humlde itself to inquire what 
the opinion of the million is, much less will 
it deign to appear before its bar or abide its 
decree. 

In a free country the best clue to the genius 
of the people is probably derived from tlieir 
laws. As this species of knowledge is the 
primary motive of visiting a country, 1 have 
studied with some attention the laws of the 
Americans, particularly tliose of this state, 
which are all printed and collected in vol- 
umes — how much better than to be left like 
those of Musselman countries ! 



15 

What strnck me as most remarkable, 
was the enormous and confused mass of 
laws that has accumulated already, and the 
government is not forty years old yet ! — 
Almost every subject has at one time or 
another come under the purview of these 
lawgivers. Among other things, matrimony 
has not escaped notice. The manner of 
transacting this business is very minutely 
prescribed. And a man is prohibited from 
procuring more than one wife at once ! And 
this prohibition is scarcely thought a hard- 
ship by this free people ! so powerful is 
habit. 

This legislative cacoethes appears to be 
epidemic [^maladie dit jpays']^ and in 1804 
it arrived to a prodigious height. Not saU 
isfied with the previous restraints and limi- 
tations imposed upon marriage, the law- 
givers, undertook to control over the pre- 
liminary attachments between the sexes, 
and to subject the most distant indications 
of affeetions to their inspection. With this 
view they made a law that all ' hearts 
and CHEEKS* should be inspected' by aa 

* This is a gross or wilful blunder. If Signor AU 
Bey had looked further than the marginal index, he 



46 

officer of the government. By an anotIle^ 
law, the use of 'imagery^ h forbidden, — • 
This is probably tbe reason that this coun- 
try has produced no better poets. 

Another law prohibits Dancing.* This 
accounts for the people's dancing so ill, 
which I have already noticed in another 
place. 

In another place the lawgivers betray 
their sentiments as to the relative impor- 
tance of religion and learning, by the fol- 
lowing classification : '^ An act for the en- 
couragement of literature, piety and morali- 
ty and the useful arts and sciences.'^ Pie- 
ty it seems is only second to literature, and 
morality quite in the back ground ! This is 
not so in the Mussulman code. 

The observations of my friend respecting 
the ladies, appear to have caused him a 
good deal of compunction. He has taken 
several occasions to recur to the subject, and 
to mollify his former animadversions. He 
cautions me not to be prejudiced before I 

would have avoided such an unaccountable mistatc- 
ment.^— 7V. 

* This is also a mistake. We have no law forbid- 
ding dancing, but we have one that makes it penal in 
an Innholder to allow dancing in his tavern. — Tr, 



47 

am able to judge from personal acquaint 
tance. Yesterday he introduced the sub- 
ject again. 

I fear I libelled the fair sex in our late 
conversation. But you must make due al- 
lowance for exaggeration. VVe are apt to 
be unreasonable in expecting from girls of 
fifteen or sixteen, a maturity of mind and 
ripened reflection much above their years, 
and above what we expect from our own 
sex at that age. And when we are disap- 
pointed because we expect too much, we 
give them credit for less than is their due^ 
and impute the effects of youth to a bad 
education. 

To appreciate correctly the female cha 
racter, we should take into view the pecu- 
liar situation in which civilized society has 
placed that sex. Without the inducements 
to exertion that take the strongest hold of 
men — wealth and fame — -looking forward 
to matrimony as at once their goal and asy- 
lum — it is neither strange nor unnatural 
that their minds should be moulded to their 
(^e tination. It is n'either strange nor un- 
n ^iral that they should bend their atten 
tion to those minute and to u^^^ trivial attain- 
ments that are found, by experience, most 



to advance them in the only field open t« 
them. And so long as men are pleased 
with toys and play-things^ they cannot 
blame females for giving to their minds the 
most current stamp. Let reformation begin 
atjiome. Let gentlemen learn to value and 
respect females of sense and information — 
let them look upon a cultivated mind as a 
sine qua non to that connexion which is 
dearer than life ; and as supplying the w^ant 
of mere personal attractions — and they may 
rely upon it their opinions and example 
will not be lost upon fcheir fair correlatives. 

Eutj said I, is it true that women have 
not some of the inducements to exertion 
that we have? What prevents them from 
tilling the field of le.iruing— and from reap- 
ing its harvest, fame, like Mesdames De 
Stael, Montague, Genlis, and divers others 
our contemporaries ? It is true that most of 
these have trod the roseate paths of imagi- 
nation ; but what debars them from dis- 
tinction in history, philosophy and the sci- 
ences ? 

That there is no physical impediment, I 
admit, replied my friend, allowing (what I 
am disposed to allow) the equality of the 
mental powers of the sexes. And a maa 



11) 

more sanguine than myself might anticipate 
a time when the fair sex, if they do not 
monopolize, shail possess their due shar^ 
of learning, and of its offspring celebrity. 
But I am far from thinking fame desirable, 
even for a man, much liss for a woman. 
It is not with a view to that, that I desire 
to see a better system of education adopt- 
ed — one that shall fit fern iles, not for pub- 
lic, but private life, and give them resour- 
ces for happiness within themselves, pure 
and perennial, which the world can neither 
give nor take away. An education of that 
kind would furnish useful and liberal em- 
ployment to minds that are now a prey to 
idleness and ennui, or ignobly busied in 
gossiping, scandal and cabal. 

Bat there are many obstacles to such an 
education, and no where more than in this 
town. The frivolity and fastidiousness of 
fashion, ever at w^ar witli common sense, 
have here rendered the condition of females 
more helpless aud compassionable than it 
is naturally. Those who have beauty, 
youth, and above all, ivealth, have a reti- 
nue of admirers to render th^m vain by 
flattery — those who want these essential 

accessaries are given up to neglect, without 
5 



5t 

any regard to their mental qualities or ac- 
quirements. Such is the justice of our sex ; 
and yet we expect females to cultivate their 
minds; to he neglected, ' to hlush unseen.' 
In this town all these agencies operate with 
a most powerful purchase. Females hardly 
arrive to puherty hefore they are called old 
maids, or in the cockney language which 
you heard on one occasion are placed on 
the ^ old list, ^ If the poetical division is 
applicable to that sex, it may be truly said 
that in this town they pass three of their 
seven ages from fifteen to twenty-five. From 
fifteen to seventeen, it is the timid and art- 
less miss; from that time to twenty-one, the 
conscious, all-conquering belle ; from that 
age to twenty-five, ^ a beauty waning and 
distressed' young lady. After twenty-five 
they are regarded as confirmed old maids 
and placed by common consent in the van 
of the forlorn hope. 

In consequence of this injurious arrange- 
ment, girls, as soon as they get into the it 
teens, are haunted with a fearful looking for 
of compulsive celibacy and ideal miseries. 
It may be doubted whether the horror of 
©Id maidism is not as deep rooted and as 



violent as what nature ever felt for 4% 
vacuum. 

This st \te of things must be regretted by 
every friend of humanitv. But those only 
who have witnessed its effects know the 
extent of its cruelty and mischief — who 
have seen young women whose minds are 
just coming to maturity^ crowded out of 
circles th it they would adorn and animate, 
to make room for frivolous children, — who 
have watched the silent operation of anxiety 
and neglect on a lively and ingenuous mind^, 
and marked its i,'radual transition from 
gdety and animation, to placid dejection and 
cheerless indifference. Such a current of 
adverse circumstances might break down a 
mind of firmer texture than is generally at- 
tributed to females. The lonesomeness and 
destitution v/hicii they must feel when thus 
passed over by the world, might weigli 
down the most buoyant spirits and induce 
them to exclaim with Richard, ^* I shall 
despair ! — there is no creature loves me — 
aud if I die — no soul will pity me !'' It is 
then that females feel the need of educa^ 
tion, and let me aid of religion — of a cul- 
tivated mind and well directed feelings, to 
protect them from their last enemy, them 



aelves — to presevvo them from the knawiiigii 
of disappointment^ and the gloomy workings 
of misanthropy. 

A few evenings ago I was persuaded by 
my friend to attend the theatre. Tiie house 
was thin and the performance quite indiffer- 
ent. This I did not regret, — for I iiave al- 
ways been of opinion that theatrical repre- 
sentations and their inseparable concomitants 
have a most pernicious influence on tlie 
morals of society. It w^as therefore with 
secret pleasure that I heard my friend anim- 
advert on what he called the mismanage- 
ment of the theatre, and on the Bostonian 
taste for horse shows and still- vaulting iu 
preference to the refined entertainments of 
Die stage. My opinion of the tendency of 
theatres was not altered by what I saw this 
night. The play (the Belle's Stratagem,) 
svas by no means one of the most licentious. 
It is even less exceptionable than most of 
the plays of the great and justly admired 
Shakspeare, whose faults are forgiven in 
favour of his exquisite beauties, his pathos 
and knowledge of the heart. But the greater 
part of his writings are but tolerated in the 
closet — ^they would (at least they ought to) 
disgust in representation. And in the closet 



5S 

it appears to me that they are to be tolerated 
only by our sex and married females, for 
who would open Othello to virgin eyes, un- 
less with design to enlarge their ideas and 
pollute their imagination ? 

The play which I saw performed is cer- 
tainly less offensiv e on the score of indeli- 
cacy than those older writings. Yet even 
this is calculated to do a good deal of mis- 
chief. It has enough of libertinism in its 
characters, and of licentiousness in its allu- 
sions, to soil a pure and inexperienced mind. 
Although to the pure all things are pure, 
who would wish to expose their daughters 
or sisters at the ripening age of twelve or 
fourteen to the loose conversation of rakes 
and coxcombs, to hear them talk of their 
mistresses and boast of their amours ? They 
might about as well be sent to a brothel. 
Yet such was the main scope of the play^ 
and its predominant impression on the mind^ 
and such were a considerable part of the au- 
dience that 1 saw in the boxes that night. 
And while I contemplated their tender age 
and as yet untarnished minds, 1 sighed — I 
reprobated their parents' rashness, and curs- 
ed the institution that spreads such a snare. 
It is an institution, praised be God f peculiar 

* 5 



54- 

to Chrisiiau countries, which the pure doc- 
trine of the Prophet (as soon as it prevails) 
will sweep from the face of the earth ! 

I have said nothing of the transactions of 
galleries and green room — nor need I say 
any tiling. Enough is heard and seen before 
the curtain to doom the stage and all its ap- 
pendages. 



il.-^ 



CilAP. X* 

Account of the Atheneum — King^s Chapel — Mall — 
State-House. 

June. I went with my friend a few days 
since to view the public institutions of the 
city. Among others, the Atheneum is pe- 
culiarly deserving of notice. It consists of 
one of the most extensive libraries in the 
country. The books are not allowed to be 
carried out of the apartments of the library ; 
in which, however, they may be consulted 
with every convenience, and in whose al- 
coves readers may be seen at almost all 
hours of the day. Besides many rare and 
valuable books, I was shewn a collection of 
prints of the chef d'oeuvres of European 
artists, some of which are scarcely inferior 
to the originals. On the tables of this in- 
stitution are to be found most of the period- 
ical journals of this country and Europe. 
This is certainly an admirable institution; 

* See the contents of the intervening Chapters at 
•he end of the volunie, Tr 



56 

and'its influence is said to be very beneficial 
in diffiising knowledge and promoting a 
taste for reading. 

After leaving this interesting seat of learn- 
ing, we passed, on our m ay to the Mall, a 
venerable antique looking church, with a 
portico supported by twelve huge plastered 
cylinders, or Ionic pillars. This is now 
called ' Kini!;^s ChajieP — my friend told me 
— its name having been lately changed from 
Stone Chapel, The former (said he) was 
its originnl name ; but it Wi;s thought to 
savor too strongly of Monarchy in the pa- 
triotic times of the revolution. It was ac- 
cordingly christened 'Stone Chapel.' It is 
doubtful whether the first change or the late 
restoration indicates tlie greater wisdom. 

The finest part of the city beyond com- 
parison, is the Mall and the Common. The 
Mall is a colonnade of venerable trees, 
whose branches interlock and form a rich 
arcade ; through which is a spacious gravel 
walk. This is a favorite promenade, where 
one may enjoy the beauties of nature and 
snuff the air while he is screened from the 
sun. 

The Common as 1 have already observed 
on a former occasion^ is an extensive square- 



l^ariag the to\Vn on three sides and an a?m 
of the sea on t!)e fourth. This^ tout enseai- 
ble, is a most charmiDg view — the solemn 
range of trees with their dark foliage — the 
green field of grass swelling before the eye 
— the distinct Avater prospect opening a view 
of the surrounding conntry, and rolling the 
mellow western breeze, and reflecting the 
setting; sun — all these natural beauties with 
the architectural simplicity of the buildings 
that rise likp parapets around^ combine to 
render this one of the finest scenes in the 
world — at least I have seen nothing sur- 
passing it in all my travels. Will it be 
believed that this enchanting common takes 
its name from its being a common cow-pas- 
hire, and is actually given up to that ani- 
mal ! 

On the north side of the Common stands 
an edifice on an elevated site, and lifts its 
head above the city, ^ proudly pre-eminent.' 
This is called the State- House, It is an 
enormous pile of brick surmounted by a 
dome aud cupola It was this smoke-col- 
oured dome that I first distinguished of 
the town before entering the harbour. Ap- 
pended to the front of this edifice, is a bal- 
cony supported by seven prodigious square. 



pillars or battlements, of brick, whicb my 
friend bumouroiisly observed belonged to 
the Yankee^ order. The interior is divid- 
ed into apartments for the officers of the 
government. In the second story are two 
chambers for the two branches of the legis- 
lature. In the centre of tlie building is a 
winding stair-case, by which we ascend to 
the cupola. Here opened before us an im- 
posing prospect — OP the one side the land 
spreading around us, and rising in the dis- 
tance like an amphitheatre, chequered with 
villages and country seats, and fields ' dress- 
ed in living green' — on the other side the 
dark ocean mingling with the sky, studded 
with white sails and rolling vessels. Under 
our feet lay the town with its billy slate 
coloured roofs and tapering gothic spires, 
and hemmed around by water on all sides 
except a iiarrow isthmus by which it hangs 
on the nighbouring continent. Upon the 
whole, I never enjoyed a finer scene. But 
why is this superior to the view from Seme- 

* Yankee is a cognomen familiarly given to the in- 
habitants of the eastern states, hence (my friend tells 
me) Boston is often caHed Yankee town in other parts 
of the country, beina: the capital of those states. 

{Ali Bey.) 



99 



lalia or the mountains of Nicosia ? if any one 
ask-because (I answer) moral health, indus- 
try, LiBEKTY^ happiness reign here and give 
pathos to the beauties of nature ! 

1 counted from this height nearly twenty 
spires or cupolas rising from as many chur- 
ches but alas not one minaret, not one 

mosque — nor a single monument of tlie true 
faith ! This reflection made me melan- 
choly. 



m 



CHAP. xr. 

y.in Excursion into the Country — In Appearance — ArcKi- 
tecture — Cambridge — The University. 

12 June. Yesterday the weather being 
fine, we mounted horses for an excursion 
which we had been contemplating for some 
time. We passed over the neck as it is 
called, and proceeded through Roxbury, 
Dorchester, Brookline, Brighton and Cam- 
bridge. The country appeared extremely 
pleasant, being highly cultivated and inter- 
spersed with gardens, meadoAVs, orchards 
and country seats. The land, however, is 
not naturally fertile. The gardens are small 
but well cultivated, being designed more for 
use than ornciment. Some have a small green 
house by which they neutralize the influence 
of tlie seasons. The houses are mostly for 
the summer residence of people from the 
town. They are situated pleasantly enough, 
in general, and the adjacent grounds some 
times exhibit marks of considerable taste. 



61 

But it is to be regretted that tlie architecture 
of their buildings is not such as to add to 
the effect of their picturesque situations. In- 
stead of simplicity and terseness^ these boxes 
betray a preposterous emulation of the stately 
magnificence and ornaments of a palace. Tiiis 
vicious taste in architecture prevails, my 
friend informs, throughout the country. 
Buildings, he says, v/iiich for magnitude 
and design would be set down for cottages, 
are seen tricked out in all the profusion of 
architectural finery — with piazzas, balconies, 
pilasters, atticks and domes — ^windows and 
doors crowned with pediments, tympanums 
charged with arabesques, cornices lined with 
modillions, and double rows of dentoles, &g. 
&c. — and all this to private houses whose 
interior cannot open a room twenty feet 
square. The grandeur of simplicity is no 
where understood or relished in this country. 
If, as is commonly said, the architecture of a 
country is indicative of the character of the 
people, this account would go to prove that 
the Americans are finical and ostentatious 
above all other people. Tlsis conclusion is 
in some measure obviated by the explanation 
that my friend gives. He says, that those 
tvho deface the country with such architec- 



6S 

tural foppery, are generally men who have 
acquired property by their own exertions 
and are destitute of taste and education. But 
this does not seem entirely satisfactory ; for 
where is the taste of their architects ; or are 
they overruled and compelled to indulge the 
depraved fancy of tlieir employers ? 

On our return through Cambridge we 
visited the University^ the first literary insti- 
tution in this country, and said to be little 
inferior to th** seminaries of Europe. Its 
buildings are se^ en in number, all of brick 
except the Chapel, which is of granite. This 
is an oblong building, with a piazza in front, 
supported by nine Doric pillars. The ar- 
chitecture of this edifice has been criticised, 
and it must be confessed not wholly without 
reason. The piazzas and halved pilasters 
break the unity and diminish the grandeur 
of proportion. 

A member of the University with whom 
my friend was acquainted, shov/ed us the 
objects most worthy of attention* What 
most attracted my observation was a fine 
philosophical apparatus — the astronomical 
instruments, however, 1 thought not equal 
to mine. The chymical department has a 
convenient and well constructed laboratory. 



63 

tn the anatomical room are seen a number 
of wax work preparations. Tliej are the 
work of an ingenious Italian, and are said 
to be superior to human subjects for pupils, 
on account of their distinctness of repre- 
sentation. This is particularly observable 
in the ear, which is exhibited on so large a 
scale as to be rendered very intelligible. 

The library yields to none in this coun- 
try for value and extent — that of the Athe- 
naeum is the only one that approaches it. It 
has been chiefly formed by private donations. 

The botanical department has a garden 
aiid a green house, which however are too 
small for such an institution. And it appear- 
ed to me to be but indiiferently husbanded. 
The garden is tastefully laid out in serpen- 
tine walks encircling an artificial basin of 
water, which makes a very pretty appear- 
ance. I noticed several plants here that I 
had found in Asia or Africa, and many 
others wliich are indigenous ; for a more 
minute account of which the reader is referred 
to my Botanical Journal. 

The mineralogical cabinet is too inconsid- 
able to deserve the name. This branch of 
science does not seem to be in favour at this 



6^ 

seminary. It is indeed hardly credible, but 
I have heard it stated, that the superintend- 
ants of the university rejected a present of a 
very extensive collection of minerals some 
yeai^ since ! 

The member of the university already 
mentioned gave us an account of the internal 
economy of the seminary. 

The students, said he, are divided into 
four classes according to the years of their 
residence, four years being the term required 
for the first degree. They are governed by 
a code of laws peculiar to the university, 
which are administered in a summary man- 
ner by the instructors. They are required 
to recite lessons io their tutors or professors 
daily, for neglecting which they incur pecu- 
niary penalties and other severe punishments 
according to the degree of delinquency. They 
are also rewarded for diligence by certain 
lionorary notices, which are called parts, tliat 
isj characters which individuals are appoint- 
ed to sustain in the public exhibitions. I'hese 
parts have different degrees of honour attach- 
ed to them chiefly by opinion, (being in 
themselves upon an equality) and are in- 
tended to be dealt out with reference to the 
tliffering merits of the pupils. 



65 

This arrangement, I observed, appears 
very excellent, well calculated to insure jus- 
tice and temperate emulation. 

^Justice and temperate emulation P re- 
torted the young man ; alas ! sir, a short 
residence here would convince you of the 
fallacy of reasoning a priori on this subject. 
I'hat the system of rev»^ard and punishment 
adopted here is on the whole beneiicial I am 
not prepared to controvert. And if it could 
be administered with impartiality and intel- 
ligence, many evils would doubtless be avoid- 
ed, that are often thought inherent. Eut 
alh)wing that all the gentlemen instructors 
ar^^ intelligent and conscientious, and dispos- 
ed to be impartial, there are still so many 
cin^umstances that will always jostle tlie 
scale of justice, that merit has rarely credit 
fiu' its true weight. In the first place a young 
man's character is not always known. xVnd 
il it is known to his comrades it imij not !)e 
to his instructors. The fact however unfor- 
tunately is, that our instructors are not en- 
tirely exempt from human infirmities. I'liere 
is no sign on their lintels that imperfection 
should pass them over. Prejudice, that 
easily besetting sin, insinuates itself in every 
shape, and knocks with equal hand at the 



66 

door of tutors and students. Its wor\ings 
even on staid and sober judgments deserve 
to be reckoned among the remarkable phe- 
nomena of the mind. Favoritism is odious 
and unjust every where, but in a literary in- 
stitution, there is no phrase of reprobation 
adequate to it. The man that introduces or 
countenances it there is guilty of treason to- 
ward the republic of letters. 

As to emulation, it strikes root among us 
sufficiently deep, and bears fruit both good 
and bad. 

There are however some evils which I 
fear are inseparable from our system of edu- 
cation. Among tbese I reckon, on the one 
hand, the vanity and light-headedness which 
distinguished (and often undeserved) honours 
produce in young men thus prematurely 
given up to flattery ; on the other hand, the 
chagrin and disappointment of those who 
defserve or think they deserve higher honours 
than they obtain. These causes, although of 
an opposite nature, produce similar effects : 
each injures the disposition of the young 
men and relaxes their exertions. 

Another evil of more serious import, al- 
though less obvious to notice, is the incidental 
influence of our system of education on free 



67 

dom of inquiry. Our instructors it is true 
do not incur the reprocach of attempting to 
forestall our opinions ; much less do they 
hedge in the field of knowledge by con- 
fining us to books of a particular per- 
suasion, let it cannot be denied that 
the authority of their known sentiments 
unavoidably biases our inquiries. The bare 
knowledge of a system or theory formed 
and adopted by men who stand on the high 
ground of instructors^ must have an influence 
on the most independent minded pupil. It 
at least fixes a point of attraction^ aiound 
which all will revolve, who are too indolent 
or ignorant to make up their own opinion. 
Thus truth has not and cannot have fair play. 

You are fortunate, sir, in your President ; 
at least he sustains a high reputation, 1 ob- 
served. 

Yes sir, and very deservedly ; — he is pe- 
culiarly calculated to manage the wayward 
dispositions of young men. Since his presi- 
dency very material improvement has been 
made in the police of the seminary, and if 
the item of impartiality forms an insulated 
exception, it would be going too far perhaps 
to say that in this the movement has been 
i'etrograde. 



68 

Borne of our instructors are not unknown 
in the literary world. Our President is es- 
teemed an elegant belles-lettres scholar. The 
professor of metaphysics has written a trea- 
tise upon logic, which if it is not on enlarged 
and philosophical principles, has certainly 
rendered the subject more simplified and in- 
telligible than it was left by liis predecessors. 

The professor of rhetorick too is not with- 
out literary claims. He entered upon his 
office under some disadvantages ; but his 
failure has not been so signal as was antici- 
pated. Indeed it may be questioned whether 
the narcotic effects of his lectures are not 
attributable as much to the contrast between 
him and his predecessor as to intrinsic defect. 

But this gentleman was not contented to 
enact Rigdumfunidos in the college dormi- 
tory ; the silent applause bestowed on his 
hebdomadal lullaby did not satisfy his Iiigh 
reaching mind ;- — a few years ago the poor 
man, like my lady Go-nimble, had a 'histor- 
ical fit.' He undertook to write a history 
of the late war between this country and 
Great Britain. A subject of this delicate 
nature was, you may well suppose, little 
suited to the wire edge of his feelings. W ith 
very little reflection he might have seen a 



69 

* transparent probabilitif of failing. To 
write such a history^ as it ought to be written, 
would require not only a candid and cautious 
mind, but chastened feelings and tamed pas- 
sions ;■ — instead of which our professor went 
to work witji as much headlong nonchalance 
as he would dogmatize on a theme. He has, 
however, ^ accoutred as he was/ succeeded 
in one respect where most historians fail, — 
he has fairly rivalletl an applauded excel- 
lence of an ancient historian, — for his history 
not only betrays no partiality in favour of 
his native country, but actually leans against 
it. In this respect I fancy his history is sui 
generis. But at all events our professor is 
not alone in his miscarriage. Attempts at 
the history of the same period by Mr. Brack- 
enridge and Mr. Hunt, have been followed 
by failure equally notable — if indeed the 
mawkish stuff of the latter deserve the name 
of history, to which it certainly bears no re- 
semblance. 

To the friend of the American character 
it must be a consolatory reflection that this 
book of our professor's ' that roars so loud 
and thunders in the index' under the name 
of ' History,' is not likely to be a lasting blot 
on our national literature. Its utter want of 



70 

merit as an authentic statement of facts will 
luckily avert such a misfortune. 

My idea of this flourishing seminary was 
greatly exalted by what I saw and heard. 
Its literary aspect charmed me. And I could 
not help remarking to our young acquaint- 
ance the happiness he must enjoy. 

Alas ! sir^ I am sorry to tell you that your 
conclusions are again erroneous. If the hap- 
piness of mankind is fairly measured by that 
within these walls, this world may well be 
thought, (as by some it is,) to be the scrip- 
tural hell, and men in a state of punishment. 
If to be in a state of constant turmoil and 
agitation — anxious to deserve the reward 
but doubtful of obtaining it if deserved — is 
to be happy, then are the students of this 
university happy. 

But emulation is not the only cause of un= 
happiness here. The course of study pre- 
scribed for us^ if the best, is not always the 
most pleasant, — nor is a person always in a 
humour to apply himself; especially to per- 
form the labour meted out by a literary 
task- master. 

We left this classical retreat highly grati- 
fied. We returned to the city over one of 



71 

the long bridges (of which there are a num- 
bei-) that connects it with tlie adjacent coun- 
try. It was evening ; and the lights of this 
and the neighbouring bridges had a very 
pleasing effect. 



y% 



CHAP. XI. 

President's Visit Fourth of July Oration— — Boston 

Hospitality. 

5 July. A few days ago I witnessed one 
of the most moving scenes that 1 have seen 
since I was at Morocco : — the President ba- 
shaw of these states made his public eatre 
into this city. And it was a heart touching 
scene to observe with what affection his sub- 
jects gathered around him — to see the chief 
citizens holding his stirrup or bridle, kissing 
his handsj &c. &c. Their loyalty forcibly 
reminded me of the Emperor's reception 
when he graciously vouchsafed to visit his 
subjects. The procession for the President 
was, however, much the most splendid — old 
men and boys, young men and maidens pre- 
ceded and followed him. A deputation met 
him many miles from the city. A strong 
military detachment served as an escort and 
a life-guard. During his residence here the 
city has put on a new face — all is movement, 
♦hilarity and parade. 



7$ 

Yesterday was the grand holydaj of the 
country^ being the anniversary of the inde- 
pendence of the nation. An oration in coni» 
memoration of the event was delivered. The 
orator drew his topics from the history of 
the country. His delivery was plain and 
unaffected^ and the scope of thought quite 
creditable to his talents and reflection. This 
seems to militate with what ray friend has 
frequently said of the habits of the young 
men of the town being inconsistent with study 
and methodical thinking — or perhaps it is 
only an exception. 

The President was at this solemnity of 
course^ for nothing is now done or thought 
of without him. Tlie public prints give 
daily bulletins of his movements — where he 
has been and where he is going to be^ &c. 

My friend informs me that the President's 
advent has been attended with some remark- 
able phenomena. It is said to have fairly 
turned the brain of one editor^ whose types^ 
as by instinct, spell nothing 'but President, 
refusing every combination but such as per- 
tains to him, or his horse, or his leather 
breeches. Some pretend to say, however, 
that the President is not the original cause 
of his mental malady, of winch they cite ^ 

7 



7'i ^ 

several previous indications, such as tlie 
anile fondness which he betrayed for the 
wedding garments of a Mr, Russell and 
wife, and the out-landish words that he be- 
gan to use, as ^ Newspaperials,' &c. — and 
several other symptoms of his distemper do 
they enumerate. 

Among the physical phenomena of the 
President's approach, continued my friend, 
the most wonderful is the attraction of several 
large bodies out of their orbits to the dis- 
tance of thirty or forty miles. Some attribute 
this astonishing phenomenon in part to lunar 
influence, under the idea that the presidential 
attraction alone was inadequate to such an 
effect. Legal measures are in contemplation 
to ascertain the correctness of this conjec- 
ture*^ 

The President is said to be w ell pleased 
with the loyalty and hospitality of this city. 
Its hospitality was known and has been 
applauded before ; and if I have not hitherto 
borne testimony to it, it is not because I do 
not entertain a due sense of it. 

* Query — What does my friend mean by legal 
mcamres in this connexion ? — A. B. 

\ writ de hciiatico inquirendo is probably intended in 
|he text.— Tr. 



4^ 



My friend has frequently discussed tlii^^ 
subject with me when he has heard me ex- 
tolling the hospitality of this people. You 
fall into the same mistake that most stran- 
gers do upon this point, said he — and it is 
a Very natural mistake. But a closer in- 
spection demonstrates it to be such. When 
a stranger corner into town whose character 
or connexions give him authority or eclaty 
Bostonians are all attention — no people can 
be more officiously polite — the forms of eti- 
quette are dispensed with^ and no one thinks 
a party complete unless the stranger is 
there. He of course finds his residence of a 
few weeks very pleasant, and conceives a 
high idea of the hospitality of the people, 
which he gratefully publishes on his return, 
to his home. This accounts for the name 
tliis town has unduly acquired for hospital- 
ity, especially at a distance. But at the 
time that they go so far out of the Avay for 
him, they will pass others unnoticed whose 
character is equally respectable and who 
have equal claims on their politeness ; but 
who unluckily are not buoyed up by such 
powerful auxiliary aid. And the very peo- 
ple who thus throw open tlieir doors to a 
distinguished stranger, will receive a ' coun- 



76 

try cousin' or acquaintance^ with a look that 
would chill the hearty and with civility meas- 
ured according to the probahle duration of 
his stay. Tsay, sir, at the very time that 
they are paying such extravagant court to a 
stranger, they have acquaintances who are 
every way respectable and with whom they 
have been in habits of intimacy from their 
youth up^ both at school and the university, 
but toward whom their hospitality has never 
extended farther than a passing nod, or the 
interchange of unmeaning civilities. If this 
is hospitality, then do Bostonians deserve 
credit for it. The fact is, that the hospita- 
ble people of this town live in a constant 
dread of ^ being burthened by their acquaint- 
ance ; and this liberal feeling is but partially 
smothered by the honour of entertaining a 
distinguished stranger. If you receive this 
account v/ith distrust, it is creditable to your 
heart, but a better knowledge of the town 
will undeceive you. 

Upoii this statement of my friend I shall 
t'ake occasion to make some remarks here- 
after. 



"tl 



CHAP. XII. 

Siciie of Religion in Boston — Its Charitable Instiiir 
tions^ ^c. 

I HAVE been at considerable pains to catcE 
the religious feeling of this people, to as- 
certain the strength and bearing of their 
prejudices. With this view, 1 have attend^ 
ed their worship at the various churches of 
the city ; which on their Sabbalh are in 
general very fully attended. The audience 
appeared to consist mostly of the middle 
and upper classes. Where, thought I, do 
the poorer people worship ? — or do CJiris. 
tians think them of too little importance to 
make provision for them ? For a solution,. 
I went as usual to my friend. He inforrag 
me that the common people are generally 
too poor to attend the established worship— 
or rather, if I lightly understood him, the 
Christians have established a sort of reli- 
gious aristocracy, of which wealth is the 



78 

principal ingredient. For this purpose, the 
interior of their churches is parceled out 
into a great number of small apartments 
which are bought up by people of wealthy 
who alone are able to buy them. By this 
ingenious and truly Christian expedient, 
all who are not able to buy one of these 
apartments, are crowded out of the church. 
The number of these has been computed to 
be rather more than two thirds of the popu- 
lation of the city. How much more hu- 
mane are the ordinances of the Prophet I 

The religious services of the Christians 
are not so solemn and appropriate as the 
rikats ordained by the Prophet ; but from 
the best observations I could make, I am 
inclined to think that they are performed 
with nearly as much devotion. Their min- 
isters, I must admit, go through the solem- 
nities with more propriety and judgment, 
than our Imauns and arc in general more 
respectable and better informed. Their 
manners of preaching are very dissimilar. 
Some enforce their doctrines with a sincere 
and natural eToquence, worthy of a better 
faith. Others appeared rather enthusiastic 
and dogmatical — and others again, seemed 
to pFeach, (to use my friend^s expression, \ 



79 

to be heard of men. He has frequently told 
me that these geatlenien are not fond of 
study, and generally, in ihis city especially, 
contract habits unpropitious both to reflec- 
tion and application. This however I have 
heard contradicted by others, and am in- 
clined to think that there are at least some 
exceptions to my friend's statement. 

The laity are extremely attached to their 
preachers. But this attachment is not very 
enlightened, and is most commonly emulous 
and exclusive, extending only to the preach- 
er of their own parish or church. This 
spirit sometimes leads them into the grossest 
ill manners and even injustice. For if their 
own preacher goes abroad to preach at some 
other church, his parishioners do not conceal 
their dissatisfaction, and treat his substitute 
with very little ceremony. If they are in 
church before they are apprized of the in- 
supportable change they sometimes leave it, 
but more frequently they take care to obtain 
previous intelligence and of course leave 
their pews vacant. Thus the poor pastor, 
unable to gather his flock, preaches to the 
walls. In some instances this fastidious 
affectation has carried this pious people to 
almost incredible lengths. It is said they 



80 

have actually requested some preachers new 
er to officiate again in their church ! Indeed 
all seem resolved to go to heaven in their 
own way, and under captains of their own 
choosing. 

The truth is, said my friend conversing 
upon this subject — the truth is they go to 
church just as they go to the theatre, partly 
from habit and partly to pass an idle hour, 
or to escape from the fiend ennui ; and if 
they can hear a tune or two well siing, and 
a good voice from the desk accompanied with 
a handsome countenance, they return satis- 
fied, and with rapture acknowledge that they 
have heard ' the most superb prayer that was 
ever addressed to an audience!^ Indeed 
their religion is essentially theatrical. In 
110 catholic country perhaps is the power of 
spectacle so ^ great as it is here. This is 
evident from the theatrical treatment which 
their preachers receive, which for fickleness 
and caprice, is worthy of the * gods and god- 
desses' that preside over the stage. In 
preaching, all the town assume to be con- 
noisseurs; and where this is the case, Miard 
is the fate of the preacher ;^ for their ca- 
price equals their infatuation. If he hap- 
pens to take^ he is extolled ad coelum, their 



81 

admiration knows no bounds. Put if it uh- 
luckily happens otherwise, the wight must 
expect to preach (as was before observed) 
to empty pews. Eut even he that succeeds 
stands on slippery rocks. As he gained 
their favor by his pretty looks, he must ex- 
pect to lose it when those looks lose their 
charms. This soon comes to pass — the 
wheel soon turns and rolls him doion and 
another iij). Instantly, in ^the tyvinkling 
of an eye/ every gunner disappears, and 
the poor spoiled young man is at last struck 
off as much below as he once went above his 
true w^orth. Another youth comes into fash- 
ion, v»^ith face as shining, and voice as sweet 
as liis predecessor's. It is now his turn to 
lead the town captive ; and now the morn- 
ing stars of flattery sing his praises together. 
It is needless to add that, in fulness of time, 
he also goes the way of his predecessor. 

A speculation of this sort involved the 
good people of one parish in a laughable 
predicament. A young man of talents too 
great to be coquetted with came along. 
The people of the parish aforesaid, admired 
him of course, rather before they heard him 
preach. They had heard him for some time 
with wonderful constancy of affection, when 



s% 

he, either doubting their stability or wishing 
to avenge the fate of his brethren, took an 
opportunity to mete back to them their own 
measure. He accordingly jilted them, and 
that too with circumstances of unheard of 
cruelty, and cold bloodedness ! His parish- 
ioners were inconsolable ; their wounded 
pride knew no balm. *« To be treated so by 
a boy ! who ought to have been grateful for 
the honor we conferred upon him V^ 

The epilogue to this comico- tragical exhi- 
bition is said to be in a state of forwardness, 
and is expected to be still more facetious, 
inasmuch as experience disregarded, ren- 
ders even distress ridiculous. 

But, said I, if religion is really at so low 
an ebb in this city, how comes it that the 
people are at so great expense in building 
churches and supporting teachers, &c. ? 

This may be accounted for, he replied, in 
two ways. In the first place public opinion 
and the laws require it. In the next place 
they make the most of necessity by turning 
it into an occasion to display their wealth 
and generosity. How far all the charitable 
institutions of the town might be accounted 
for on the latter principle it would be invid- 
ious to enquire. We ought rather to rejoice 



88" 

in the good effects of even a wrong motive, 
and even admire the wisdom that makes even 
bad materials work together for good. Suf- 
fice it then to state that the inhabitants of 
this town are remarkably liberal and public 
spirited ; and that scarcely any charitable 
purpose is allowed to languish for want of 
the fostering aid of the wealthy. And when 
they subscribe for the erection of Hospitals 
for the insane and similar laudable purposes, 
the merit of the act surely ought not to be 
drawn, in questioa by any supposed rever- 
sionary or contingent interest. 



^^ 



CHAP. XIII. 

Jtifluence of wealth — Its tendency to destroy the moral 
faculties — Corruption of language — Wild lands. 

The marabout of Tangier was right when 
he said that the mass of mankind are mad© 
for the amusement and behoof of men of tal- 
ents — at least such seems to be their fate all 
over the world. That this is pre-eminently 
true in this town I am more convinced the 
more I become acquainted with its citizens 
and the instruments of opinion in applica- 
tion among them. Whatever may be thought 
by the learned respecting Archimedes' alle- 
gory, it is quite certain that the only lever 
that can move this city is (without a meta- 
phor) money. And never did this lever act 
with greater purchase than here. He, that 
holds this, needs nothing else — he is listened 
to with the utmost docility, and his dicta are 
treasured up and repeated with the most un- 
doubting submission. He has admirers 
wherever he appears who are ambitious of 



8^ 

puffing him without hope of reward, save the 
honour of it. A general pre-disposidon to 
praise, approve or admire more surely indi- 
cates this mine and its owner than all the 
arts of rabdomancy. Whatever he thinks 
or does is right, and every appendage of his 
is excellent — his manners are the most per- 
fect, his equipage tlie most elegant, and his 
daughters tlie fairest and altogether lovely. 

Woe to the wight without money who 
comes in competition with hiniy with only 
equal merits — his superiority must be over- 
powering or his case is desperate. 

This money worship has not only vitiated 
the moral sense of this people, but has ac- 
tually corrupted their language. Of this tlie 
word good is a remarkable instance. This, 
by a characteristic metaphor, no longer ex- 
presses moral but pecuniary qualities, and is 
applied not to the heart but the jyurse. Thus 
w hen they say that this or that man is good. 
they mean that he has property or is able to 
pay a debt ! 

My friend often descants upon ths ^ Bos- 
ton god,' as he calls money ; which he says 
constitutes both their lares and jpe nates. It 
is astonishing and melancholy, he would say, 
to see the adoration of this mia;hty deity ; 



86 

before which Bel boweth, Nebo stoopeth — 
to see even strong minds broken down by 
its influence, and lose all sense of right 
and wrong, of merit and demerit. I am not 
wondering that the bulk of the people are 
but partially informed and willing to take 
opinions at retail as they do their gin and 
tobacco. But to see the moral sense erased 
from the mind, and a general prostration of 
principle before the shrine of wealth — and 
that too among the better informed — is in- 
deed intolerable. It ought to be reprobated 
and held up to public scorn. But this dis- 
position, odious and contemptible as it is, 
mii,ht be pardoned, or at least pitied and 
disregarded, if its consequences were only 
of a private and personal nature — they 
might bend the knee to wealth, pervert their 
language, sell their daughters in wedlock to 
the highest bidder whether fool or knave, 
and, — but for the fuliiic effects of the con- 
duct, its influence on our national character 
and political institutions— I certainly would 
not trouble myself nor disgust you with the 
mention of it. But when I consider that 
this omnipotence of wealth is as subversive 
«f the spirit of republicanism as it is of 



87 

morality ami justice, I think it ought to be 
marked with public censure and contempt. 
It may be thought strange that such a 
pernieious weed should take root in this 
town, emphatically styled the nursery of 
liberty. But we must remember that it ac- 
quired and deserved that appellation in the 
days of simplicity and integrity, before the 
apotheosis of wealth — before the contagion 
of servility had been scattered by the blasts 
of patronage. In those patriarchal days 
favouritism had not become systematized 
and so incorporated with the ideas and feel- 
ings of the people as at present. Then 
men laid their account to rise not by patron- 
age but by merit. And it is now worth the 
consideration of those whose conduct and 
example stamp the character of a people to 
inquire, whether this course of conduct is 
consonant with the genius of our institutions 
and government ; or whether it docs not 
tend to break down that spirit of indepen- 
dence which is the stamina of our free gov- 
ernment. They ought to reflect too, whether 
it would not be a more generous policy to 
patronize merit only, instead of drawing 
around thein parasites and flatterers who 
expect to live by borrowed consequence — 



88 

whether their tables and drawing rooms 
would not be as much honored, and them, 
selves and families as much edified by the 
intercourse of independent and cultivated 
minds who exact a respectful co-equality, 
as by the presence of a servile jpecus who 
w atch tlie nod and re-echo the sentiments of 
their host. 

I am persuaded that if the town ever re- 
covers from this distemper, the cure must 
come from this source. To talk of peoples^^ 
curing themselves, of their returning ex 
mero motu to the erect course of indepen- 
dence, and throwing off their mental vas- 
salage by their own strength is altogether- 
idle. They are not even conscious of their 
disease. On the contrary, they think them- 
selves the most independent and impartial 
of mortals, without a single sordid or servile 
particle in their composition. And they are 
even more sensitive than most people under 
the imputation of being sycophantic or time 
serving, and swallowing the opinions of 
those whom money or fashion has deified. 
A people sitting in such palpable daikness 
will never come to the light of themselves ; 
for there is reason to fear that their organ 
of perception is decayed. 



89 

Besides, it is riglit that the cure should 
come from the same source with the malady. 
If men of station and talents (who ought 
better to have regarded what they owed to 
themselves and to their ccuntryj) have been 
instrumental in introducing a system of fa- 
voritism and its concomitants, fawning ser- 
vility and meanness; they surely are iho, 
men to begin the work of reformation, cf 
bringing back their townsmen to tiieir prim- 
itive integrity. By so doing they may make 
some slight amends for theinischief they 
have occasioned. 

Bnt if the people of this town, continued 
my friend, attach so much importance to 
wealth, it is but fair to allow that they show 
some judgment in the use of it. After the 
claims of vanity and display are satisiied, 
they commonly cast about them for monu- 
ments to which to a^x their names, thu«^ 
attempting to acquire by the purse the seni- 
blance of the meed due only to talents and 
virtue. Those who cannot afford to !)uild 
halls or market houses, purchase immense 
tracts of wild land, contented to lose the 
first cost and accruing charges, provided 
they are allowed to christen a township of 
bears and sables by their own name ; wi*!: k 



they hope by this means to send down to 
future ages. It may be said, perhaps, that 
convicts and debtors have their names per- 
petuated and transmitted to posterity on 
gaol books and judicial records ; but that 
is a very diiferent sort of celebrity. 



H 



€HAP.X1V. 

Domestic Economy of Bostonians — IVieir Esprit du 
Corps — Its Consequences. 

1 DO not agree with my friend that this pe- 
cuniary propensity deserves censure chiefly 
on account of its tendency to subvert the 
government of the country. It appears to 
me that its private and domestic effects are 
equally pernicious and lamentable. Among 
these may be reckoned the expensive habits, 
the preposterous itching for style and pa- 
rade so common in this city, and so preju- 
dicial to the comfort and happiness of fami- 
lies. Nothing is more frequent than to see 
men, ^ with means too humble for their 
haughty minds/ in moderate circumstances 
with a young and numerous family de- 
pendant on their exertions, anticipate their 
income, involve themselves in debt, and at 
their death bequeath to their families penury 
SLiid dependence. In no other country, I 
believe, is the style of living so dispropor- 
tioned to the ability or property as here^ 



In Europe if people live in splendor, they 
are generally able to bear the expence, with- 
out breaking in upon their capital. Here it is 
quite otherwise. Men with no property but 
a stated salary swallow up that by aifecta- 
tion and extravagance, and losing all fore- 
cast, bring up a family with a certain pros- 
pect of poverty. 

These habits of extravagance are not con- 
fined to the men. The ladies have their 
full share ; and in fondness for finery and 
dress exceed even the ladies of Botany Bay.^' 
It is said that London milliners receive their 
largest orders from this country, and inquire 
with surprise Avho there is here able to sup- 
port such style ? 

The inhabitants of this town, (said my 
friend,) have one trait, I must allow, that is 
altogether honorable to them. The esprit 
du corps for which they are distinguished 
certainly does honor to their feelings, [t is 
true that it gives them the air of novices when 
they are caught abroad, and strangers even 
accuse them of illiberality, when they per- 
ceive their ideas all centre around their own 
native town ; but Bostonians are wise enough 

■^ Vide Brewster's Encyclopedia-^art. Colony. 



98 

to disregard the ill-natured pleasantry of 
southern wags, and go on their way rejoic= 
ing that they are not as other men. 

This amiable attachment to the things of 
this town is productive of a variety of inter- 
esting effects. In young men and misses it 
produces a suitable ignorance of all out-of- 
town or ' country^ matters — under which 
term ^ country' they intend certain terra in- 
cognita, about which their ideas are as flat- 
tering and nearly as accurate as they are of 
Siberia or El Bahhah Soudan. Now al- 
though this ignorance ostentatiously avowed 
to ' country cousins' exposes them very un- 
reasonably to the charge of affectation^ yet it 
certainly presents them in a meek and unas- 
suming point of view. In those who have 
arrived to maturity its effects are equally 
happy. Meet them on 'Change or in their 
drawing rooms, you find them always uni- 
form — always exhibiting the same enviable 
complacency and self-importance — their ideas 
always bounded by the same circumference, 
to wit, their town ; and always revolving 
around the same centre, to wit, themselves. 

This excellent characteristic gives this 
people many enjoyments which the w^orld 
knows not of. By the help of this they keep 



91 

a constant procession of great and celebrated 
personages passing before them ; whose 
greatness is only visible to Boston eyes, and 
whose celebrity Bostonians entirely monopo- 
lize. It makes them in short a little world 
of their own, whose vast concerns engross 
their whole attention and outweigh in their 
minds the rest of the universe. 

A Bostonian abroad can never remain long 
incog. : if you find him in New-York, Balti- 
more or elsewhere, you soon perceive by his 
dip what quarry he comes from. His empty 
consequential air, his real and pretended ig- 
norance, are marks which soon betray him. 
In conversation he displays with exquisita 
naivete his predilection for his own dear 
town. Its paramount importance is the lemma 
of every proposition and the bout of every 
observation. And if any thing is in dispute 
he appeals to the example of his aforesaid 
town with the most conclusive confidence, 
these enlarged and liberal views exhibit him 
to strangers in a very pleasant and patriotic 

light. 

There is one case in which the tendency 
of this esprit du corps is thought to be of a 
questionable nature, that is, in its effects on 
statesmen and legislators. Some have con- 



95 

tended that this Bostonian feelings by con- 
tracting the views of statesmen whom the 
town has sent forth^ renders them less fitted 
to make laws for a great nation. But this 
objection is founded on an assumption alto- 
gether inadmissable, viz. the subordinate im- 
portance of this town compared with the rest 
of the nation. 

To give you a thorough understanding of 
this subject it is necessary to observe that 
not every one that lives in Boston is subject 
to this esprit du corps in its full extent. 
There are too classes of citizens widely dif- 
fering in their own estimation from each 
other. The first class comprehends those 
who were born in town, and whose parents 
before them made it their domicii. I'lie 
second class includes such as have migrated 
hither to sojourn for a season^ to buy and 
sell or pursue a profession. The former 
draw a deep line of circumvallation around 
their body to preserve its integrity from all 
plebean commixion. Tliey look upon the 
second class as interlopers and intruders, 
who are encroaching upon their patrimony, 
corrupting the city manners* by standing 
• between the wind and their nobility.' 

* Vide the life of R. T. Paine prefixed to his works. 



96 

The other class are a peaceable well dis- 
posed, and harmless sort of people, not so 
high minded as their brethren, and occasion- 
ally exhibiting a gleam of independence. 
The first class assume a loftier gait, and 
claim an exclusive patent-right to the immu- 
nities of gentility and fashion ; but the second 
possess full as many qualities of gentlemen. 
Both are alike slaves of fashion and opinion, 
but the second class retains still a few sparks 
of moral sense not yet extinguished by thti 
power of money* 



sr 



CHAP. XV. 

Commencement at Cambr'dge — The Exercises — Ameri- 
can Literature — Causes of its Inferiority — Piling. 

:S8 August. Yesterday I went with the 
multitude to see the grand Commencement 
exhibition at the University. The exercises 
were performed by those students who, hav- 
ing finished their term are about leaving the 
institution and receiving its degrees. The 
recitations were delivered from a temporary 
stage erected in a church, the pulpit of which 
served for the President's throne. They 
were composed in various languages, such 
,^ as English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, &c. — 
none in Arabic ! Their Latin and Greek 
savoured strongly of English, both in pro- 
nunciation and style. The former in par- 
ticular struck me oddly, owing 1 believe 
chiefly to the long flat sound which tliey uni- 
formly give to the letter r?, and the American 
sound of the letter i^ and also to occasional 
9 



wrong accent. I am inclined to think how- 
ever that the genuine English pronunciation 
of the classical languages is more sonorous and 
perhaps nearer that of the ancients than the 
pronunciation of the French or of any other 
European nation except the Italians, and the 
descendants of the ancient Greeks, 

The oratory of the young men was natural 
and unimpassioned ; addressed mostly to the 
understanding. But tliey nearly all failed 
in the first great requisite of good speaking, 
by not making themselves heard — or if heard 
they did not fill the house and force them- 
selves on their audience. Their gestures 
were frequently incorrect and their manners 
generally awkward. And their articulation 
and emphases might in some instances have 
been improved. There were also faults of a 
higher order that might be pointed out, if 
one were disposed to criticism — such as the 
choice of trite subjects, and the tame common 
place ideas announced as novelties^ &c. &c. 
But due allowance ought to be made for the 
youth of the performers. Upon the whole 
the exhibition was gratifying and creditable 
to individuals and the institution. 

The audience was numerous and brilliant, 
composed of the literati and fashionables of 



tie city and neighboring country. The ladieb 
especially, in their ambitious costumes, made 
an imposing show. The President of the 
University seated on his throne presided 
over the solemnities. His rotund figure and 
luminous countenance, braced in his official 
robe, and surmounted vs^ith a square black 
cap, made rather a grotesque spectacle, 
w T''he day was closed with festivity, as is 
the custom in this country. A public dinner 
is given by the University. Of this I par- 
took by the invitation of my friend, who hav- 
ing taken the degrees of the institution, had 
a right to invite me. Here I found myself 
among the Proceres of the land — civil, mili- 
tary, ecclesiastical and literary characters. 
After dining they sung a hymn, in which I 
joined with great devotion. When I saw 
several venerably appearing divines joining 
in the festive and devout scene, I could not 
repress a sigh that they would probably be 
left to die as they have lived in error and 
misbelief! 

When we were returning to the city our 
conversation turned on the literary character 
of the country. We both agreed in allowing 
the Americans, talents equal to the inhabit- 
ants of the Eastern world. And yet, said I, 



100 

how comes it that among so many engaged 
in tlie literary race^ so few have gained any 
considerable prize ? so few have arrived at 
excellence in literature or made discoveries 
in science ? To this my friend replied, that 
this is a problem which many on both sides 
of the Atlantic had tried to solve. But ncf 
solution that I have yet seen appears entire- 
ly satisfactory. It has always appeared to 
me that the operative cause of our literary 
inferiority is to be found in the propensity to 
imitatio7i vflnch is an endemick in this coun- 
try. The truth is, we liave always been in 
a state of pupilage — our literati (if indeed 
there is such a body in the country,) looking 
up to Europe for instruction, and our sol 
disant gentry for fashion, and all receiving 
their lesson with implicit docility. We found 
it more easy to throw off the political than 
the literary government of foreigners. I^his 
mimetic disposition so destructive of inven- 
tion and originality, is not confined to litera- 
ture — it is the predomiiiant characteristic of 
the people. Nor is,. it peculiar to cities, it 
extends the whole length of the sea- coast, 
and pervades the entire depth of the interior. 
One village imitates another village thought 
to be more refined or wealthy: and one indi- 



101 

vidua! apes a neighbour whom he considers 
his superior. Without doubt the popular 
form of our government — ^by taking out of 
the market a large proportion of the best 
talents — has had its effect in prolonging our 
literary minority. But this alone does not 
seem adequate to such an effect, ^ or rather 
defects But whatever may be the cause^ 
the fact is undeniable — the taste of our 
country is essentially crude and unformed. 
Although our colleges and universities are 
numerous and flourishing, and knowledge 
probably more generally diffused here than 
among any other people, yet (and it is aston- 
ishing to see it) few even of those who re- 
ceive what is vormed a liberal education ever 
mature a literary taste or pursue any branch 
of learning, except what is necessary to the. 
practice of a profession. From this circum- 
stance the field of literature is abandoned to 
empiricks and pretenders, whose jejune pro- 
ductions gain some notoriety because our 
national vanity has nothing better to feed 
upon. 

It is but too truCu I fear (continued my' 
fdend) that the obstacles to literary excel- 
lenee in this country are indigenous. Th^ * 



habits of the people are not studious. We 
have very few among us who study for the 
love of study. Our scholars are impatient 
for profit before they have acquired capital. 
In accordance with the trafficking spirit of 
the country^ they manufacture their flimsy 
wares for immediate sale. 

But although our literature is thus mate- 
rially unripe, and our writers exhibit few 
marks of erudition or matured reflection, our 
literary annals can boast of some specimens 
of wonderful precocity and still more won- 
derful modesty. In a late magazine pub- 
lished in a neighboring city, and edited by 
a youth fully out of his teens, I lately found 
a precious proof of this : — the unassuming 
reviewer, after using a number of celebrated 
names witla very little ceremony, knocks Du- 
gald Stuart quite down. He concludes a 
notable piece of garrulity after this sort — 
^' We w ish our readers to know that Stuart 
has rer^ little originality, has made very 
few discoveries in the philosophy of the hu- 
man mind ; is indebtexl to Dr. Reid for a 
system that is generally sound !*' &c. &c. — 
Analect. Mag. Aug. I8I7. All this is nice 
no doubt : but tliis magazine can furnish 
other specimens not a whit behind it. The 



103 

same journal affords an example of the aping 
disposition of oar writers which I have just 
mentioned. Its awkward and mawkish imi- 
tation extends even to the style and turn of 
expression. Whoever is acquainted with 
the Edinhurgh and Quarterly Reviews will 
find the style of this journal as much like 
that of those as the gait and dress of a cham- 
bermaid are like those of lier mistress. 

It may be thought strange that the same 
people should be habitually under the influ- 
ence of imitation^ and yet betray such an 
itch for innovation — as we Americans cer- 
tainly do, as appears by the strange words 
and bombastic style which we meet with in 
American made books. I will not under- 
take to explain this apparent paradox ; nor 
decide which disposition is most prejudicial 
to literary taste and national character. 

In the public papers this morning I ob- 
served the literary exercises at the univer- 
sity, some of which were designated as being 
peculiarly excellent. These encomiums were 
as I thought generally misplaced. I so far 
distrusted however the correctness of my 
judgment as to ask the opinion of my friend^ 
reading to him at the same time the laudatory 
critique in the paper. He burst into a hearty 



104! 

laugh. Is it possible, said he, that you 
have lived so long in this town and do not un- 
derstand the puffing system in fashion here ? 
It is more than probable that the writer of 
this critique was not even present at the ex- 
hibition ; or if he was, had first written his 
remarks. These puffs are generally man- 
aged in a very ingenious way, and are found 
to be ^ the sovereignest thing on earth,' when 
skilfully applied ; especially in a town 
where opinions are an article of retail. In 
this town the earliest puff is commonly the 
moi^t successful, as it is sure to find the en- 
lightened cits completely opinionless^ and 
ready to be carried about by every wind of 
puffing. When these collegiate exercises 
are the subject, some officious friend or sa- 
j^ient editor is generally the puffor. And 
the technical introduction of this class of' 
puffs is in the words following, to wit, 
<^ Where all performed so well, it would be 
invidious to discriminate, we canvot forbear 
howQYtv just to observe that the chaste style 
and impressive eloquence of Mr. A. B. gave 
distinguished gratification.'' This is usually 
translated thus, ^ as to the merits of the per^ 
formances I did not pay sufficient attention 
to be abl« to decide, yet as I, the puffor, am, 



105 

the especial friend of Mr. A. B. (the puffee,) 
I cannot forbear Just to take this method to 
induce the public to believe that he is a sur- 
prising youthj and did in very d^ed surpass 
all his class-mates^' &c. k'c'. 



'^ 



4IB %i -mMwm 



iOfi 



CHAP. XVI. 

AH Bey prepares to leave town — Tribute of gratitude to 
the hospitality of Bostonians — Their character — Com' 
pared with tht Inhabitants of Algiers^ ^c. 

SOth Sept. My friend* has at length 
concluded to accompany me in my tour 
through the southern and western part of 
the country. We have made our arrange- 
ments to set out to-morrow in a chaise and 
pair. For a few days past I have been oc- 
cupied in taking leave of my numerous 
friends — ^for such I will ever esteem them. 
Our parting is very cordial and aflfects me to 
the heart. 

I must here once for all state my unquali- 
fied dissent from my friend's opinion re- 
specting the hospitality of the citizens of the 
town. Surely if any thing can be called 
hospitality their humanity and politeness to 

* It appears from a subsequent part of the MS, 
that this * friend' of our traveller who makes so 
conspicuous a figure in the preceding pages is a 
tAtive of Virginia. — TV, 



107 

mt deserve the name and the praise of it-*" 
«t hoc meminisse semper juvabit ! 

[The residue of the chapter consists of general 
reflections upon the state of society in Boston, as to 
refinement, morality and religion. The author then 
draws a parallel between the Bostonians and the in- 
habitants of Algiers, Morocco and Constantinople. la 
all that relates to the learning and the arts of civil- 
ized life he gives a decided preference to the former ; 
but he claims precedence for his Mussulmen brethren 
not only in religion, but in moral principle and that 
rectitude of feeling which prompts one instinctively 
to discriminate between right and wrong, merit and 
demerit. He also thinks that the people of the last 
mentioned cities are most discerning, thoughtful and 
independent, more in the habit of thinking for them- 
selves, and consequently less exposed to dupery, &c' 
These opinions, the result of our author's intercourse 
in this town, and so flattering to our vanity, may 
startle us a little at first, but he fortifies them with 
a variety of curious speculations and allusions, which 
the Translator regrets he cannot give in extenso.] 



CHAP. XVII. 



Mi Bey leaves Boston — takes the route through Woreeiter^ 
Hartford^ ^c. to JVew York. His observations on the 
country-its minerals — Geology — Botany— Speculations 
nipon the formntion and antiquity of this continent 



m^ 



•«iii»iirftiMMp 



109 



APPENDIX. 

Memorial of Mi Beij^ ^-c. 4-c. concerning the introduction 
of Islamism into America."^ 

The conversion of this new world to the 
true faith, was the sublime project conceiv- 
ed by Imaum Ibrahim Mukabedladzi. It 
has long been wished more than expected 
by the faithful and the good. If this glori- 
ous purpose can in any degree be advanced 
by my feeble efforts, I shall be happy and 
blessed — then shall I gather the fruit of all 
my toils and travels altogether — of the thirst 
and heat of Africa and Asia, and the perils 
of the Mediterranean and Atlantic ! 

If to any this project seems chimerical, 
let him hear and judge. And may the 
Prophet of prophets give him wisdom to 
judge. 

* Sic in MS. — This memorial from some internal 

marks it seems the author intends to dedicate to the 

Grande Signior What is here published is evidently 

only a rous^h draft, without forni or conneiuon: — Tr^ 

10 



Of the continent of America, that part 
called the United States is the most inter- 
esting and enlightened. Here consequently 
ought our exertions to hegin. But what 
part of these States is most favorable for the 
attempt? An important question, and diffi- 
cult to answer. I can speak from personal 
knowledge only of this city [Boston] and 
its immediate neighborhood — from which 
we must judge ;for the present of the rest of 
the country, as we measure a circle by a 
segment. 

It cannot be said that this city is predis- 
posed to a revolution of the nature and ex- 
tent of the one in contemplation. It lies 
contented and inert in its present darkness. 
Such a mighty innovation, if prematurely 
or improvidently attempted, would doubt- 
less alarm and shock the people. Hut there 
are many circumst ..nces in the presant state 
of this city, in its character, manners, and 
opinions, which taken together convince me 
that this is the point to begin at ; that here 
a breach may be raa<U% and a tenable lodge- 
ment effected, which in due time shall com- 
pel error and misbelief to capitulate. 

The people of this city are sufficiently 
enlightened to appreciate our religion. Of 



Ill 

this there can be little doubt. Their schools 
for education are numerous^ and the state of 
learning equal at least to that of Fez, Al- 
giers^ or even perhaps to Mecca itself. 
There is too, I think, a good disposition 
among the citizens and liberal feelings. 
They have, it is true, an established faith 
and established preachers of it. This to 
some may seem an insuperable barrier. But 
this idea from the interior view which I have 
endeavored to take, seems to be a mistake. 
This garrison in aj>pearance so formidable, 
is weak, divided and mutinous. The teach- 
ers of misbelief disagree about the manner 
of misbelieving. And their quarrels have 
been so virulent as to create mutual enmity 
and distrust. One party charges the other 
with infidelity, want of zeal, treachery. This 
in its turn accuses its adversary of making 
a book for itself instead of the Book of their 
religion, of tyranny, bigotry, &c. Whether 
these accusations are true or false, they are 
the cause and consequence of a mighty 
schism, that is spreading wider and wider 
and opening a door to the healthful breeze 
of truth. 

Nor is this controversy confined to the 
teachers — the common people engage in it 



lid 

with as much heat as their leaders. The 
points about which they dispute are of no 
importance either to Islamism or Christian- 
ity.* And if we thought proper to join either 
party we might indulge them with their fa- 
vorite dogmas without compromising the 
iloctrines of the Prophet. 

But this warfare is not engaged in by the 
whole population. There is a small but re- 
flecting number who either disapprove of the 
doctrines of the great rival pai-ties^ or of the 
measures adopted to support those doctrines. 
These are mere spectators of the pious con- 
tention. And from these we have probably 

* It will be remarked that I have said nothiDg" of 
the advantage of the contemplated conversion on the 
score of doctrine — to the faithful this would be su- 
perfluous. I would only observe here, that our creed 
is as pre-eminent over that of the Christians in simplicitj 
and intelligibility as it is in truth. If any doubt this, 
let him compare the creed established by the con- 
centrated wisdom of Christendom at the council of 
Nice, with that of the Prophet. The former begins 
thus, " We believe in one God, Father Almighty, 
Creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible 
and invisible: and in one Lord Jesus the only begotten 
Son of God, begotten of the father, before all ages, 
God of God, light of light, true God of the true God, 
begotten, not made, consnbstantial with the father," &c. 
^c. Now hear ours, sublime and true — 

La illaha ila Allah ! — There is no god but God ! 

J. B. 



113 

more to apprelieiid than from both of the liti- 
gating factions. 

In selecting one of these sects for an ally 
in onr project of conversion, regard must be 
had to their character, prejudices and con- 
nexions. In this city the liberal party is the 
most numerous and respectable. It compre- 
hends all the wealth and fashion of the town. 
The Liberales profess to be more enlightened 
and freer from prejudice than their oppo- 
nents. Although the amount of this is soon 
computed, to wit — that they have laid aside 
their old prejudices for new ones that are 
more fashionable — yet this circumstance is of 
importance to our purpose. If tliey have 
been detached from one set of prejudices, 
they may be probably from another — and 
then with due exertion the scion of truth and 
Islamism may be engrafted. 

It would be worth while, perhaps, to as- 
certain the truth of the charge alleged against 
this sect of skepticism and disregard to their 
Book, The interpretation of this may be, 
that their good disposition and research are 
unclenching the hold of error and preparing 
their minds for the true faith. 

It will be important to study the character 
and opinions of the leaders of the two parties 

* JO 



Ii4 

before we make choice of either. Men of 
a bold aspiring temperament, addicted tQ 
singularity, bustle and affectation, put in 
motion more by vanity and an itch for dis- 
tinction than by the merits of a cause ; 
who preach even in the cause of error as if 
they hardly believe it — with a wavering 
purpose and misgiving heart— men of this 
mould will be useful instruments in our 
hands ; and can be easily attached to our 
cause if we flatter them with the idea of be- 
ing the ostensible leaders. 

Upon the whole if we begin in this city, 
the Liberales are the party with whom we 
must seek alliance. For though their oppo- 
nents might be as easily duped, their influ- 
ence is too inconsiderable and their name 
too unpopular to be of much use to us. 

To ensure success it will be necessary to 
give our cause brilliancy and eclat in the 
outset. All the auxiliaries of wealth, tal- 
ents and fashion should be brought to our 
aid. Nothing in this city will supply the 
absence of these. The Tmaums and Fakirs 
selected for the high trust of sowing the 
seeds of truth in this benighted land, must 
be men of talents, education and address. 
They should be invested with all the splen- 



115 

doB that money can command. Their 
mosques should be magnificent and richly 
endowed. With these pre-requisites a few 
able Imaums would find no difllculty in at- 
tracting, first to their drawing rooms and 
then to their mosques, all the fashionables 
and literati of the city. The example of 
these, always contagious, would soon influ- 
ence the middle and lower classes. With 
a good voice aad commanding manners^with 
funds sufficient to appear men of the world, 
to give dinners and routs, frequent the the- 
atre, &c. our teachers would be certain of 
success. The fasliionables would court their 
society and ape their manners, the literati 
would be convinced by their arguments, and 
the vulgar dazzled with the novelty and 
splendor. Thus ail classes would swallow 
the new doctrines and taste the saving 
draught of truth. 

The celerity of this movement will not 
appear incredible, when we consider the in- 
fluence of fasliion and the manner in which 
opinions are handed through the city. If a 
youthful preacher without the aid of wealth 
ar the attractions of novelty in doctrine, 
can empty the churches of the oldest pastors 
and draw the town after him, would it be 



116 

wonderful if the eclat of a new faith, and 
the. power of a true one, gilded with wealth, 
magnificence and fashion, should arrest tlie 
attention of such a volatile and fantastic 
people in a much greater degree? 

I would not be understood to say, that all 
who attend the preaching of our apostles 
or appear at their levees would become sin- 
cere converts off-a-hand. But I do not 
hesitate to assert that Islamism, by the aid 
of the accompjiniments already mentioned, 
would immediately become the f?\shionable 
religion of the city, which all who wished 
to be thought genteel would adopt and be- 
lieve, or affect to believe. It would soon 
become the criterion of good company, edu- 
cation and liberality. 

How long it would require to convert the 
Christian teachers themselves, when they 
found every avenue to distinction, except 
by the new faith, closed upon them, and 
when fashion and interest conspired to con- 
vince them, it is not easy to determine. 
Allowing them to be candid and intelligent 
men — a character which they in general sus- 
tain — we might expect to number them witfe 
us speedily. 



117 

But to effect this healing change, our 
missionaries must possess an intimate ac- 
quaintance with the human heart. They 
must exercise caution and judgment in 
broaching their doctrines, not to alarm prej- 
udice or provoke controversy. They must 
bring every species of moral artillery to bear. 
With a people proverbial for vanity little 
sagacity will point out what string to pull — 
when argument fails, bring up flattery to 
support it. In short they should be able to 
mould even the weaknesses and vices of 
mtinkind to their purpose. When all class- 
es of people take their opinions chiefly upon 
trust and pass them on, like empty buckets, 
it must be an object with our teachers to- se- 
cure the source whence their opinions are 
drawn — or rather to be that source. 

To a people so passionately fond of titular 
distinction, our estahlishment would be very 
defective if it did not hold out that species 
of attraction. I would therefore recommend 
that a musselman College be established in 
the first instance, with power to confer de- 
grees of D.D. S.T.D. L. L. D. &c. &c. 
Perhaps an order of Mouhhammed would be 
^^neflcial, its members to be distinguishetl 
•^ynjedals, ribbands, stars, &c. Public 



118 

processions' would also be found to be of ad- 
vantage, and public days, upon which a 
hopeful convert might be appointed to deliv- 
er a discourse. This di•^tinction would not 
be thrown away on him, and would besides 
tend to produce good dispositions in others. 

Having secured the city, the next object 
would be the university. 1 his is of pri- 
mary importance, and would not hold out 
long after the former had joined us. 

So far, I think, we may calculate upon 
success with confidence. But whether it 
would attend us into the neighbouring coun- 
try I am not prepared to say. We should 
there encounter quite different materials — a 
sturdy, sincere and thoughtful people — 
more attached to their prejudices and relig- 
ion, with less taste for the blandisments of 
wealth, and less liberal, than their brethren 
of the metropolis. It is doubtful whether 
we should be able to make any considerable 
impression upon them until we are strong 
enough to bring interest to our aid. With 
this we might expect that our creed would 
work at least as great wonders as do their 
political creeds when seconded by the sam*^ 
powerful ally. 



119 

The next inquiry is, when is the most fav- 
orable time to c'dny our plans into execution? 
To this I answer confidently notv is the time. 
The present is perhaps the most favorable 
time for our purpose that has occured for 
these fif'ty years. The divisions among the 
Christians have been already mentioned. 

Their dissentions are not confined to this 
city. They extend through the country, 
tecarcely a week passes but the belligerent 
parties assail each other from the press or 
pulpit, at one time in the shape of a Triangle, 
at another in the form of reviews or seals for 
controversies. The state of irritation pro- 
duced by this warfare can be easly imagined. 
And a change that will restore harmony 
is doubtless considered a desideratum by all 
sober and reflecting spectators. Such a 
change we should offer them. To those who 
are offended with the fanaticism of one party 
or the levity and affectation of the other, we 
should offer simplicity, sincerity, solemnity, 
truth ! 

. Again, another idea — iho, present moment 
must be seized if we wish to avail ourselves 
of the religious interregnum produced by 
the clashing of opinions among the Chris- 
tians, If their altercations or innovations 



ISO 

have loosened their faith m^ shaken their 
reverence for their Book, we should surely 
be unwise not to step in and take advantage 
of this state of things. If we delay, their 
present nnfixedness of opinion will subside 
into old prejudices, or give way to new ones 
— and thus the door be closed upon us for 
ever, for ever ! 

As to the advantages to be derived fi'om 
turning this flourishing part of the world to 
the Faith little need be said. They would 
be immeasurable. In this city, especially, 
the minds of men would be cleansed and 
renovated. Instead of their present vitiated 
and decayed moral povf ers that are incapable 
of discerning right from wrong, except by the 
gross and sordid tact of profit or disprotit, 
the people would acquire a clearness and 
rectitude of judgment worthy of human na- 
ture and the true religion. 

The blessed influences would not be con- 
fined to the higher classes, the lower orders 
would come in for a large share. The com- 
mon people instead of being excluded from 
our mosques as they are from the churches 
by Christian devices, should have especial 
attention paid to them, with pressing invita- 
tion to attend our worship. This policy, 



121 

besides attaching to us a large and valuable 
portion of the population, would evince to 
the woi*ld the superiorit y of felamiom ^cr 
Christianity, in sincerity, truth, and a tender 
regard for the human species. 

But the great and unspeakable blessing 
of our faith would be reserved for the 
female sex. Their condition would undergo 
an entire revolution. No longer the victims 
of fashion and opinion — no longer would a 
large proportion of the sex be doomed to 
languish in celibacy and held up to ridicule 
for imputed characteristicks. Under the 
liberal and truly paternal religion of the 
Prophet, they would all be matrimonially 
provided for. And thus the introduction of 
the true f^iith would tend to improve the 
morals of the city and add largely to the 
comfort and happiness of society. These 
effects would he most conspicuous in the 
condition of females of the lower classes. 
These, at least such as are unmarried, are 
here mostly employed in menial occupations,. 
and consequently exposed to every species 
of temptation. Hence the wide spread pros-- 
titution that defiles this city and this laiuL, 
Qur purer faith, by bettering the education 
11 



of that sex, would put away the foul disgrace 
from the land. 

And now that our purpose may prosper 
and succeed, pray to God most mighty, king 
of the world, giver of all good things. Oh I 
that a new world may be given to the 
Prophet of prophets^ and learn to praise God! 



ISS 



CONTEJVTS OF CHAPTERS OMITTED. 

CHAP. V. 
Ali Bey visits Castle I4and, and others in 

Boston harbour Descripti m of forts 

Independence^ Warren and Strong 

Charlestown — Burnt by the British in 
4775 — Breed^s hill — Account of the battle 
upon it — Bravery of the Americans on that 
occasion — Query if their descendants have 
inherited that trait? — JVavyYard — Amer- 
lean JVavy — State Prison, 

CHAP. vi. 

State of learning in America — In Boston — 
Of the talents of Bostonians — ,]\rot coV" 
redly appreciated, owing to the exagger- 
ation of friendship — Their education-^ 
•^Tot tending to liberalize the mind — Their 
propensity to follow a dictator-^Causes of 

this proppnsity Early associations- — 

Habits of deference — Mental inferiority 
— Their fondness for titles — Cause of this 
fondness, 

CHAP. VII. 

The author attends the Courts of Judicature 
Mode of trying causes — Pref 'ruble to that 
of Morocco — The Judges — Lawyers--^ 



1S4 

Their countprfeited zeal — TJieir hofneli^ 
address and bald eloquence — Theirtalents 
— Ill directed — Their learning — On the 
decline-^- Their stuiies — Contract the mind 
and vitiate the reasoning powers — The ju- 
ry — Its functions — ^N*othing like it in mus- 
SMlman countries — Qiierij could it not he 
mtroduced? — Much valued hy Americans, 

CHAP. VIIT, 

Geology of Boston and its neighborhood — 
Botany — And minerals — Latitude of Bos- 
ton ascertained — Longitude from the oh- 
servatory of Paris ^ 

CHAP. IX. 

Jtccount of the Government o^ Massachusetts 

— Jfs officers Chosen annually The 

Governor — His character — Held in high 
estimation — Has been distinguished as a 
soldier — The authox is introduced to him 
— Opinion of him raised by the intervieia 
'^The legislature — Its enormous number 
. — Its debates — Theory of rejiresentation 
^^Fanciful — Folice of Boston, 



END. 







JjM 



